Richard Baldus (11 May 1885, in

Salonika Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

– 28 January 1945, 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 ...

) was a German mathematician, specializing in geometry. Richard Baldus was the son of a station chief of the

Anatolian Railway The Chemins de Fer Ottomans d'Anatolie (, ), founded on 4 October 1888, was a railway company that operated in the Ottoman Empire.Wilhelmsgymnasium München The Wilhelmsgymnasium is a gymnasium (selective school) in Munich, Germany. Founded in 1559 to educate local boys, it is now coeducational. Wilhelmsgymnasium is one of the few remaining gymnasiums in Bavaria to be a "pure ''Humanistisches Gymnas ...

, he studied in Munich and at the

University of Erlangen A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, where he received his Ph.D. (''Promotierung'') in 1910 under

Max Noether Max Noether (24 September 1844 – 13 December 1921) was a German mathematician who worked on algebraic geometry and the theory of algebraic functions. He has been called "one of the finest mathematicians of the nineteenth century". He was the ...

with thesis ''Über Strahlensysteme, welche unendlich viele Regelflächen 2. Grades enthalten'' and where he received his ''Habilitierung'' in 1911. He became in 1919 ''Professor für Geometrie'' at the

Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; ) is both a German public university, public research university in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, and a research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Ka ...

and served there as rector in 1923–1924. In 1932 he became ''Professor für Geometrie'' (as successor to Sebastian Finsterwalder) at

TU München The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; ) is a public research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the ...

, where in 1934 he also became the successor to the professorial chair of

Walther von Dyck Walther Franz Anton von Dyck (6 December 1856 – 5 November 1934), born Dyck () and later ennobled, was a German mathematician. He is credited with being the first to define a mathematical group, in the modern sense in . He laid the foundation ...

, upon the latter's retirement. In 1933 Baldus was the president of the

Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung 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 ...

. He was an

invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians An invitation system is a method of encouraging people to join an organization, such as a Club (organization), club or a website. In regular society, it refers to any system whereby new members are chosen; they cannot simply apply. In relation to w ...

in 1928 at Bologna. He was elected in 1929 a member of the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften and in 1935 a member of the

Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities () is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledge within their subject. The general goal of th ...

Selected publications

* * * * * (See p. 274.) * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baldus, Richard 1885 births 1945 deaths 20th-century German mathematicians German geometers University of Erlangen–Nuremberg alumni Academic staff of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich Heads of universities in Germany German expatriates in the Ottoman Empire Presidents of the German Mathematical Society