
Ivo Hans Schneider (born 1 September 1938 in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
) is a German mathematician and historian of mathematics and the natural sciences.
Biography
Schneider received his ''
Abitur
''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
'' in 1957. He studied mathematics and physics at the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...
, where he graduated as a mathematician in 1963
[ (in German)] and received his doctorate in 1968. His doctoral dissertation on
Abraham de Moivre
Abraham de Moivre FRS (; 26 May 166727 November 1754) was a French mathematician known for de Moivre's formula, a formula that links complex numbers and trigonometry, and for his work on the normal distribution and probability theory.
He move ...
(''Der Mathematiker Abraham de Moivre (1667–1754)'' was supervised by
Helmuth Gericke and
Karl Stein. In 1972 Schneider completed his habilitation ''Die Entwicklung des Wahrscheinlichkeitsbegriffs in der Mathematik von Pascal bis Laplace'' (The development of the concept of probability in mathematics from Pascal to Laplace). For the academic year 1972–1973 he was visiting professor, upon the invitation of
Thomas S. Kuhn, at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
and gave there a seminar on the history of probability theory. In the history of natural sciences department of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Schneider was an adjunct professor from 1978 to 1980 and a full professor from 1980 to 1995.
[ At the ]Bundeswehr University Munich
image:Eingangsbereich der Universität der Bundeswehr München.jpg, Entrance to the university
University of the Bundeswehr Munich (, UniBw München) is one of two research universities in Germany at federal level that both were founded in 1973 a ...
, he was a professor of the history of science from 1995 to 2003, when he retired as professor emeritus. From 1999 to 2000 he was a member of the Bundeswehr University Munich's academic senate.
In 1983 he was also a visiting professor at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Bielefeld
Bielefeld University () is a public university in Bielefeld, Germany. Founded in 1969, it is one of the country's newer universities, and considers itself a "reform" university, following a different style of organization and teaching than the e ...
(as part of the project ''The probabilistic revolution 1800–1930''). He was also a visiting professor in 1988 at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the flagship institution of th ...
and in 1999 at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics
The Budapest University of Technology and Economics ( or in short ), official abbreviation BME, is a public research university located in Budapest, Hungary. It is the most significant university of technology in the country and is considered ...
. He taught in Stuttgart (1971), Salzburg (1982/83, 1988/89), and Klagenfurt (1985).[
As a science historian, much of his work deals with the history of probability theory and its applications in physics. He has published on ]Rudolf Clausius
Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius (; 2 January 1822 – 24 August 1888) was a German physicist and mathematician and is considered one of the central founding fathers of the science of thermodynamics. By his restatement of Sadi Carnot's principle ...
, ancient Greek writings about Archimedes
Archimedes of Syracuse ( ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Greek mathematics, mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and Invention, inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse, Sicily, Syracuse in History of Greek and Hellenis ...
, applied mathematicians' use of measuring instruments, and philosophical influences on mathematicians.
He has been a corresponding member of the ''Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences
The International Academy of the History of Science () is a membership organization for historians of science.
The Academy was founded on 17 August 1928 at the Congress of Historical Science by Aldo Mieli, Abel Rey, George Sarton, Henry E. Sigerist ...
'' since 1984 and a member since 1995. From 1990 to 2006 he was a member of the board of trustees of Munich's German Museum
The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science museum, science and technology museum, technology, with a ...
. From 1997 to 2006 he was a member of the board of Munich's ''Zentrum für Wissenschafts- und Technikgeschichte'' (ZWTG, Center for the History of Science and Technology). From 1988 to 1998 he was spokesman for the graduate school ''Wechselbeziehungen zwischen Naturwissenschaften und Technik im deutschsprachigen Raum'' (Interrelationships between natural sciences and technology in German-speaking countries) at the Munich universities and the German Museum.[
In December 1997 he married Angela Meier. They have a daughter Franziska.
]
Honors
* In 1971 Schneider received the ' (Rudolf Kellermann Prize) for the history of technology for his work ''Der Proportionalzirkel – ein Analogrecheninstrument der Vergangenheit'' (The proportional circle - an analogue computing instrument of the past),published by Oldenbourg in 1970.
* In 1997 Schneider gave the historical lecture ''Parameter eines Mathematikerlebens zur Zeit von Euler'', which was part of the events accompanying the Euler Lecture The Euler Lecture (''Euler-Vorlesung in Sanssouci'') is a mathematics lecture given at an annual event at the University of Potsdam (''Universität Potsdam''). The event, initiated in 1993, is organized by the ''Universität Potsdam, Institut for Ma ...
.
* In 2004 he received an honorary doctorate from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
* In 2013 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...
.
Selected publications
Articles
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Books
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* (1st edition 1981)
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, Ivo
1938 births
Living people
German historians of mathematics
20th-century German mathematicians
21st-century German mathematicians
20th-century German historians
21st-century German historians
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni
Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Academic staff of Bundeswehr University Munich