Karl W. Gruenberg (3 June 1928 – 10 October 2007) was a British mathematician who specialised in

group theory In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as group (mathematics), groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as ring (mathematics), rings, field ( ...

, in particular with the

cohomology In mathematics, specifically in homology theory and algebraic topology, cohomology is a general term for a sequence of abelian groups, usually one associated with a topological space, often defined from a cochain complex. Cohomology can be viewed ...

theory of groups.

Education and career

At the age of eleven, Gruenberg was one of the many Jewish children sent from Austria to Great Britain as part of the

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children from Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, total ...

in 1939. Most of the Kindertransport children never saw their parents again but Karl was lucky and his mother soon joined him, and they moved to London in 1943 where he entered

Kilburn Grammar School Kilburn Grammar School was an English grammar school which opened in 1898 in Kilburn, north-west London. The school ceased to exist in 1967. History The school's history is detailed in a book by Richard E Brock. It was founded by the Rev. Dr. ...

. In 1946 he won a scholarship to study mathematics at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, where he received a BA degree in 1950 (duly upgraded to MA (Cantab.) in 1954. He was appointed as an Assistant Lecturer in Mathematics at

Queen Mary College Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

, London University from 1953 to 1955. He got his PhD in 1954 under

Philip Hall Philip Hall FRS (11 April 1904 – 30 December 1982), was an English mathematician. His major work was on group theory, notably on finite groups and solvable groups. Biography He was educated first at Christ's Hospital, where he won the Thom ...

at Cambridge with his treatise "A Contribution to the Theory of Commutators in Groups and Associative Rings".
Karl Gruenberg obituary
'

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, 11 December 2007 He was awarded a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship which made it possible for him to spend 1955–56 at Harvard and then 1956–57 at 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 Princeton, New Jersey.Karl W. Gruenberg
Institute for Advanced Study: A Community of Scholars In 1948 he became a British citizen. In 1967 he moved back to Queen Mary College where he became a leading figure in the algebra research community and where he remained for the rest of his career. He became a professor in the Department of Pure Mathematics where he worked with Bertram Huppert and

Wolfgang Gaschütz Wolfgang Gaschütz (11 June 1920 – 7 November 2016) was a German mathematician, known for his research in group theory, especially the theory of finite groups. (article written by L. A. Shemetkov & R. Schmidt) Biography Gaschütz was born on 11 ...

organising the group theory conferences at the

Mathematical Research Institute of Oberwolfach The Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics () is a center for mathematical research in Oberwolfach, Germany. It was founded by mathematician Wilhelm Süss in 1944. It organizes weekly workshops on diverse topics where mathematicians and ...

in Germany. He had a son Mark and a daughter Anne by his first wife Katherine. For thirty years he was married to his second wife Margaret.
Professor Karl Gruenberg: Leading light in algebra research
' The Independent, 8 January 2008

Works

;papers *
The Universal Coefficient Theorem in the Cohomology of Groups
' Journal of the

London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's Learned society, learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh ...

27 May 1966 *''Some cohomological notes in group theory'', Queen Mary College Math. Notes, 1968 *''Relation modules of finite groups'', CBMS Regional Conf. Series Math., American Mathematical Society 1976 ;books * 1970
Cohomological topics in group theory
' * 1977

' (with A. J. Weir), Springer-Verlag * 1984 Group theory : essays for Philip Hall, J E Roseblade & Philip Hall, London : Academic Press, * 1988

' (with J. E. Roseblade), Clarendon Press, 1988, * 2002 ''Una introduzione all'algebra omologica''

References

External links

* *
On the occasion of the 65th birthday of Professor K.W. Gruenberg
' by Alan Camina, Ted C. Hurley, Peter H Kropholler, Publisher: Amsterdam, 1993. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gruenberg, Karl Walter Academics of Queen Mary University of London Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge British mathematicians Group theorists 1928 births 2007 deaths Kindertransport refugees People educated at Kilburn Grammar School Harkness Fellows