Literatur als Medium einer Kulturgeschichte der Mathematik

Throughout the ages writers have been concerned with contemporary problems. Their reflection became part of their literary works. By tracing and interpretating mathematical references in literature information can be obtained: on the attitude towards mathematics, on its prestige in society, its cultural recognition and its significance for education. This article analyses the implication of mathematics in some exemplary novels, essays and theoretical writings on literature of authors from the 17th to the 20th century.     

Über die Entwicklung der Mathematik in Westeuropa zwischen 1100 und 1500

The twelfth century was a period of transmission and absorption of Arabic learning though it filtered outside of the Arabic world as early as the second half of the tenth century. In general, the lure of Spain began to act only in the twelfth century, and the active impulse toward the spread of Arabic mathematics came from beyond the Pyrenees and from men of diverse origins. The chief names are Adelard of Bath, Robert of Chester, Hermann of Carinthia and Gerard of Cremona. In this time the Latin world became acquainted with the Hindu numerals, the Arabic Algebra and Euclid'sElements. However, not only Spain, but also the Norman kingdom of southern Italy and Sicily occupies a position of peculiar importance, though the works of the translators did not become very influential. There were made direct translations from Greek into Latin. One had to wait a century more to obtain a translation from Greek into Latin of the chief Archimedean scientific and mathematical treatises by William of Moerbeke. In the thirteenth century Fibonacci and Jordanus Nemorarius stand at the threshold of European mathematics. Not only was Fibonacci the first to explain Arabic arithmetic, but his works, especially his later ones, contain many original ideas. Jordanus continued the Greco-Roman tradition rather than the Greco-Arabic one, but he did so with much independence. To Nicole Oresme (fourteenth century) was due a broadened view of proportionality, a geometric proof to determine the summation of convergent infinite series and the proof, evidently the first in the history of mathematics, that the harmonic series is divergent. The Configuration Doctrine was treated by Merton College authors and by Oresme. In the fifteenth century theDe triangulis omnimodis of Regiomontan, a systematic account of the methods for solving triangles, marked the rebirth of trigonometry.      

Ein Botaniker in der Papiergeschichte: Offene und geschlossene Kooperationen in den Wissenschaften um 1900

NTM Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin - Die Studie analysiert die Dynamik wissenschaftlicher Kooperation zwischen Natur- und Geisteswissenschaften an einem...     

Zur Position von Mathematik und Mathematiker/innen in der Industrieforschung vor 1945

The paper considers the status of mathematics and mathematicians in German industrial labs from the 1920s. As an example, we take the use of statistical methods in the electrical engineering company Osram in Berlin. In the United States, the former employee and member of a special mathematical research department of the Bell Telephone Laboratories, Walter Andrew Shewhart (1891–1967), is regarded as the father of statistical quality control. Although the first textbook on applications of mathematical statistics to problems of mass production was published in Germany in 1927, Germany was nevertheless generally considered as conservative in using statistical methods until 1945. In the past we have known little about whether and how these methods were actually applied in German industry before 1945. The present analysis is based on laboratory reports and other sources. It shows that in this field of research there was a close cooperation between industry and university, which was cut off in the mid 1930s due to the Nazi regime. Furthermore, we discovered that female researchers – such as Iris Runge (1888–1966) in the Osram company – could as individuals play a decisive role as mathematical consultants. The position of Runge will be described and compared with the position of mathematical researchers in other industrial labs.

am Beispiel früher Anwendung von mathematischer Statistik in der Osram G.m.b.H. Hans Wu?ing zum 80. Geburtstag gewidmet

     

Die Bruchmechanik und ihre Anwendung auf Fragen der Bauteilzähigkeit

Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics and its Application to Structural Components . The first part deals with some theoretical aspects of linear elastic fracture mechanics and their application to thick-walled structural components. One of the prerequisites are plane strain conditions in both the fracture mechanics specimens and in the structural components. The types of specimens, the experimental procedure for the investigation of stress intensity factors K_Ic and some difficulties in practice are discussed together with examples illustrating the application of fracture mechanics technology to heavy section pressure vessel components.     

Zur Eröffnung des Kolloquiums „Mathematik am Beginn der Neuzeit”

Laudatio für Prof. Hans Wu?ing aus Anla? seines 65. Geburtstages     

Zur Interaktion von Mathematik und Melancholie

The copperplate Melencolia I engraved by Dürer in 1514 illustrates various interdependencies between mathematics and melancholy. Dürer's engraving is one of the best known works of art in our western history. Up to our own times it has been interpreted repeatedly.The significance of Dürer's Melencolia I for our cultural history is subject of this essay. On the one hand the various changes of the conception of melancholy from antiquity up to Dürer' s times will be called in mind. In addition to it some examples will assert that during the last five centuries the correlation between mathematics and melancholy has been contemplated and shaped as well.