Helene (Hel) Braun (June 3, 1914 – May 15, 1986) was a German

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

who specialized in

number theory Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...

and

modular form In mathematics, a modular form is a holomorphic function on the complex upper half-plane, \mathcal, that roughly satisfies a functional equation with respect to the group action of the modular group and a growth condition. The theory of modul ...

s. Her autobiography, ''The Beginning of A Scientific Career,'' described her experience as a female scientist working in a male-dominated field at the time, in the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

. She is known for proving the convergence of the

Eisenstein series Eisenstein series, named after German mathematician Gotthold Eisenstein, are particular modular forms with infinite series expansions that may be written down directly. Originally defined for the modular group, Eisenstein series can be generalize ...

Scientific career

Braun studied mathematics at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

from 1933 to 1937. In 1937 she worked with

Carl Ludwig Siegel Carl Ludwig Siegel (31 December 1896 – 4 April 1981) was a German mathematician specialising in analytic number theory. He is known for, amongst other things, his contributions to the Thue–Siegel–Roth theorem in Diophantine approximation, ...

in Frankfurt to study the decomposition of

quadratic form In mathematics, a quadratic form is a polynomial with terms all of degree two (" form" is another name for a homogeneous polynomial). For example, 4x^2 + 2xy - 3y^2 is a quadratic form in the variables and . The coefficients usually belong t ...

s into sums of squares. Her dissertation, ''Über die Zerlegung quadratischer Formen in Quadrate'', was also supervised by

Georg Aumann Georg Aumann (11 November 1906 in Munich, Germany – 4 August 1980), was a German mathematician. He was known for his work in general topology and regulated functions. During World War II, he worked as part of a group of five mathematicians, r ...

. After completing that work, he took her on as a scientific assistant before she became a professor in her own right teaching the theory of

Hermitian form In mathematics, a sesquilinear form is a generalization of a bilinear form that, in turn, is a generalization of the concept of the dot product of Euclidean space. A bilinear form is linear map, linear in each of its arguments, but a sesquilinear f ...

s in 1940. She became a lecturer at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

in 1941, becoming a full professor in 1947. From 1947 through 1948, she was a member of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

. In 1951, Braun moved and became a professor at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

where she supervised many doctoral students including

Eberhard Becker Eberhard Becker (born July 23, 1943 in Stavenhagen) is a German mathematician whose career was spent at the University of Dortmund. A very active researcher in algebra, he later became rector of the university there. During his term as rector, ...

, Manfred Knebusch and Karl Mathiak and while there worked with

Emil Artin Emil Artin (; March 3, 1898 – December 20, 1962) was an Austrians, Austrian mathematician of Armenians, Armenian descent. Artin was one of the leading mathematicians of the twentieth century. He is best known for his work on algebraic number t ...

and other internationally acclaimed mathematicians.

Personal life

Braun never married, but in the 1960s while she was a professor at the University of Hamburg, she shared an apartment with Emil Artin, and their relationship was equivalent to marriage according to everyone who knew them. After she retired in 1981, she lived the rest of her life in Hamburg.

Selected publications

A list of the publications by Hel Braun was published by Helmut Strade in the ''Communications of the Mathematical Society in Hamburg,'' Volume XI, Issue 4, 1987. She wrote two books: *Review of ''Jordan-Algebren'': *.Review of ''Eine Frau und die Mathematik'':

References

External links

*
Photos of Hel Braun
in the Oberwolfach Photo Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Hel 1914 births 1986 deaths 20th-century German mathematicians German women mathematicians University of Marburg alumni Academic staff of the University of Göttingen Academic staff of the University of Hamburg