Otto Blumenthal

Ludwig Otto Blumenthal (20 July 1876 – 12 November 1944) was a German mathematician and professor at RWTH Aachen University.

Ludwig Otto Blumenthal
Left to right, standing: Michel Plancherel, Prof. Karl Goldziher (Budapest), Otto Blumenthal, sitting: Ms. Blumenthal, and an unknown woman, at the International Mathematical Congress, Zürich 1932
Born(1876-07-20)20 July 1876
Died12 November 1944(1944-11-12) (aged 68)
Alma materGöttingen University
Known forEditor of Mathematische Annalen, 1906-1938
Spouse(s)Mali Ebstein
ChildrenMargrete (born 1911), Ernst (born 1914)
Scientific career
ThesisÜber die Entwicklung einer willkürlichen Funktion nach den Nennern des Kettenbruches  (1898)
Doctoral advisorDavid Hilbert
Doctoral studentsKarl Gehlen

Biography

He was born in Frankfurt, Hesse-Nassau. A student of David Hilbert, Blumenthal was an editor of Mathematische Annalen. When the Civil Service Act of 1933 became law in 1933, after Hitler became Chancellor, Blumenthal was dismissed from his position at RWTH Aachen University.[1][2] He was married to Amalie Ebstein, also known as 'Mali'[3] and daughter of Wilhelm Ebstein.

Blumenthal, who was of Jewish background, emigrated from the Nazis to the Netherlands, lived in Utrecht and was deported via Westerbork to the concentration camp, Theresienstadt in Bohemia (now Czech Republic), where he died.

In 1913, Blumenthal made a fundamental, though often overlooked, contribution to applied mathematics and aerodynamics by building on Joukowsky's work to extract the complex transformation that carries the latter's name,[4] making it an example of Stigler's Law.

Selected publications

References

  1. Voices from Exile: Essays in Memory of Hamish Ritchie. BRILL. 2015-06-05. ISBN 978-90-04-29639-8.
  2. Hoffmann, Dieter; Walker, Mark (2012). The German Physical Society in the Third Reich: Physicists Between Autonomy and Accommodation. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-00684-3.
  3. Felsch, Volkmar (2011). Otto Blumenthals Tagebücher. Hartung-Gorre Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86628-384-8.

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