Karin Erdmann (born 1948) is a German mathematician specializing in the areas of

algebra Algebra is a branch of mathematics that deals with abstract systems, known as algebraic structures, and the manipulation of expressions within those systems. It is a generalization of arithmetic that introduces variables and algebraic ope ...

known as

representation theory Representation theory is a branch of mathematics that studies abstract algebra, abstract algebraic structures by ''representing'' their element (set theory), elements as linear transformations of vector spaces, and studies Module (mathematics), ...

(especially

modular representation theory Modular representation theory is a branch of mathematics, and is the part of representation theory that studies linear representations of finite groups over a field ''K'' of positive characteristic ''p'', necessarily a prime number. As well as h ...

) and

homological algebra Homological algebra is the branch of mathematics that studies homology (mathematics), homology in a general algebraic setting. It is a relatively young discipline, whose origins can be traced to investigations in combinatorial topology (a precurs ...

(especially Hochschild cohomology). She is notable for her work in modular representation theory which has been cited over 1500 times according to the

Mathematical Reviews ''Mathematical Reviews'' is a journal published by the American Mathematical Society (AMS) that contains brief synopses, and in some cases evaluations, of many articles in mathematics, statistics, and theoretical computer science. The AMS also pu ...

. Her nephew Martin Erdmann is professor for experimental

particle physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...

at the

RWTH Aachen University RWTH Aachen University (), in German ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study prog ...

Education

She attended the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen and wrote her Ph.D. thesis on "''2-Hauptblöcke von Gruppen mit Dieder-Gruppen als 2-Sylow-Gruppen''" (Principal 2-blocks of

groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

with dihedral Sylow 2-subgroups) in 1976 under the direction of Gerhard O. Michler.

Professional career

Erdmann was a Fellow of

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

. Erdmann is a university lecturer emeritus at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford where she has had 25 doctoral students and 45 descendants. She has published over 115 papers and her work has been cited over 2000 times. She has contributed to the understanding of the

representation theory of the symmetric group In mathematics, the representation theory of the symmetric group is a particular case of the representation theory of finite groups, for which a concrete and detailed theory can be obtained. This has a large area of potential applications, from sy ...

Honors

Erdmann was the inaugural

Emmy Noether Amalie Emmy Noether (23 March 1882 – 14 April 1935) was a German mathematician who made many important contributions to abstract algebra. She also proved Noether's theorem, Noether's first and Noether's second theorem, second theorems, which ...

Lecturer of the

German Mathematical Society The German Mathematical Society (, DMV) is the main professional society of German mathematicians and represents German mathematics within the European Mathematical Society (EMS) and the International Mathematical Union (IMU). It was founded in ...

in 2008.

Selected bibliography

* *

References

External links

br>author profile

Home page at Oxford
Living people 1948 births 20th-century German mathematicians German women mathematicians Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford University of Giessen alumni Algebraists 21st-century German mathematicians {{Germany-mathematician-stub