Rudolf Ernst Rothe (15 October 1873,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

– 26 October 1942, Berlin) was a German applied mathematician.

Biography

After graduating from the Sophien-Gymnasium in Berlin, Rothe studied from 1892 under

Hermann Amandus Schwarz Karl Hermann Amandus Schwarz (; 25 January 1843 – 30 November 1921) was a German mathematician, known for his work in complex analysis. Life Schwarz was born in Hermsdorf, Silesia (now Sobieszów, Poland). In 1868 he married Marie Kummer, ...

Johannes Knoblauch Johannes Knoblauch (27 August 1855, Halle (Saale) – 22 July 1915, Berlin) was a German mathematician. Biography Johannes Knoblauch, whose father was the physics professor Karl Hermann Knoblauch, studied law, mathematics and physics from 1872 i ...

, Lazarus Immanuel Fuchs, and

Ferdinand Georg Frobenius Ferdinand Georg Frobenius (26 October 1849 – 3 August 1917) was a German mathematician, best known for his contributions to the theory of elliptic functions, differential equations, number theory, and to group theory. He is known for the famou ...

at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

. There in 1897 he received his ''Promotion'' (Ph.D.) with dissertation ''Untersuchungen über die Theorie der isothermal Flächen'' (Investigations on the theory of isothermal surfaces) supervised by Schwarz. In 1905 Rothe completed his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

at the ''Technische Hochschule Berlin-Charlottenburg'' (now

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

). He was a professor from 1908 to 1914 at the

Clausthal University of Technology The Clausthal University of Technology (, also referred to as TU Clausthal or TUC) is an institute of technology ('' Technische Universität'') in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Lower Saxony, Germany. The small public university is regularly ranked amon ...

(TU Claustral) and from 1914 to 1915 at the ''Technische Hochschule Hanover'' (

University of Hanover 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 founded the Institute for Applied Mathematics. From 1915 he was a professor at ''Technische Hochschule Berlin'', where he was rector in 1921. After retiring in 1939, he was an honorary senator of Technische Universität Berlin. His research deals with differential geometry and function theory. During WW I, he did research on

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets and the like; the science or art of designing and acceler ...

and on determining the trajectories for the projectiles fired from the " Paris gun" (which in 1918 was fired at Paris from 120 kilometers away). In 1926 he was elected a member of the

German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...

. In 1930 he was president of the ''Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung''. From 1916 to 1918 and from 1939 to 1941 he was chair of the Berlin Mathematical Society, of which he was a founding member. After the death of

, Rothe completed the editing and publishing of the collected works of

Karl Weierstrass Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass (; ; 31 October 1815 – 19 February 1897) was a German mathematician often cited as the " father of modern analysis". Despite leaving university without a degree, he studied mathematics and trained as a school t ...

. Rothe was co-editor with

Felix Auerbach Felix Auerbach (12 November 1856 – 26 February 1933) was a German physicist. Life Auerbach was born in Breslau (today Wrocław) on 12 November 1856. His father, Leopold Auerbach, was a respected physician and professor of medicine at th ...

of the ''Taschenbuch für Mathematiker und Physiker'' (Pocket-sized book for mathematicians and physicists), published by ''

B. G. Teubner Verlag The Bibliotheca Teubneriana, or ''Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana'', also known as Teubner editions of Greek and Latin texts, comprise one of the most thorough modern collections published of ancient (and some medieval) ...

'' in 1911 and 1913 (and first published in 1909 by Auerbach alone).

Selected publications

''Untersuchungen über die Theorie der isothermen Flächen''
Dissertation, Mayer und Müller, Berlin 1897
''Untersuchungen über die geodätische Abbildung zweier Flächen konstanten Krümmungsmaßes aufeinander'' (Investigations into the geodetic mapping of two surfaces of constant curvature onto each other), Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik, vol. 132, 1907, p. 36''Anwendungen der Vektoranalysis auf die Differentialgeometrie'' (Applications of vector analysis to differential geometry), Jahresbericht DMV, vol. 21, 1912, p. 249

''Darstellende Geometrie des Geländes''
(Descriptive geometry of terrain), Mathematisch-Physikalische Bibliothek, Teubner 1914
''Elementarmathematik und Technik''
Teubner 1924 * ''Höhere Mathematik für Mathematiker, Physiker und Ingenieure'' (Higher mathematics for mathematicians, physicists and engineers), parts 1–6, Teubner, 1st published in 1925 (new edition in the 1960s, updated by István Szabó) * ''Funktionentheorie und ihre Anwendung in der Technik'' (Function theory and its application in technology), Springer 1931 (English translation, MIT Press 1933, Dover 1961) * ''Differentialgeometrie'', De Gruyter 1937 * mathematical section of the engineering, pocket-sized book ''Hütte'' for several years in the 1930s *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothe, Rudolf 1873 births 1942 deaths 19th-century German mathematicians 20th-century German mathematicians Ballistics experts Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Academic staff of Technische Universität Berlin Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Presidents of the German Mathematical Society