Albrecht Beutelspacher (born 5 June 1950) is a German

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and founder of the

Mathematikum The Mathematikum is a science museum, located in Gießen, Germany, which offers a huge variety of mathematical hands-on exhibits. It was founded by Albrecht Beutelspacher, a German mathematician. The Mathematikum opened its doors to visitors on ...

. He is a professor emeritus of the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von ...

, where he held the chair for

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is ...

and discrete mathematics from 1988 to 2018.

Biography

Beutelspacher studied 1969-1973 math, physics and philosophy at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-W� ...

and received his PhD 1976 from the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stud ...

. His PhD advisor was Judita Cofman. From 1982-1985 he was an associate professor at the University of Mainz and from 1985-1988 he worked for a research department of the Siemens. From 1988 to 2018 he was a tenured professor for geometry and discrete mathematics at the

. He became a well-known popularizer of mathematics in Germany by authoring several books in the field of popular science and recreational math and by founding Germany's first math museum, the

. He received several awards for his contributions to popularizing mathematics. He has a math column in the German popular science magazin Bild der Wissenschaft and moderates a popular math series for the TV-Channel BR-

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(educational TV).

Awards

* 2004:

IQ Award The IQ Award is a prize donated by the high- IQ association Mensa to honor people and organisations who have made remarkable contributions to public welfare by an intelligent idea, scientific research about human intelligence or the positive imag ...

Books

regular

*''Cryptology''. Spectrum *with Lynn Batten: ''The Theory of finite linear Spaces''. Cambridge University Press, 1993 *with Uta Rosenbaum: ''Projective Geometry: From Foundations to Applications''. Cambridge University Press *''Lineare Algebra''. Vieweg, Wiesbaden 1994, 6. ergänzte Aufl. 2003, *''Einführung in die endliche Geometrie I. Blockpläne.'' B.I. Wissenschaftsverlag *''Einführung in die endliche Geometrie II. Projektive Räume.'' B.I. Wissenschaftsverlag * with Bernhard Petri: ''Der goldene Schnitt''. 2. Auflage. Spektrum, Heidelberg, Berlin, Oxford 1996, * mit Jörg Schwenk und Klaus-Dieter Wolfenstetter: ''Moderne Verfahren der Kryptographie. Von RSA zu Zero-Knowledge.'' Vieweg, Braunschweig u. a. 1995, (7., überarbeitete Auflage. Vieweg + Teubner, Wiesbaden 2010, ). * with Marc-Alexander Zschiegner: ''Diskrete Mathematik für Einsteiger. Mit Anwendungen in Technik und Informatik.'' Vieweg, Braunschweig u. a. 2002, (4., aktualisierte Auflage. Vieweg + Teubner, Wiesbaden 2011, ). * with Heike B. Neumann und Thomas Schwarzpaul: ''Kryptographie in Theorie und Praxis. Mathematische Grundlagen für elektronisches Geld, Internetsicherheit und Mobilfunk.'' Vieweg + Teubner, Braunschweig und Wiesbaden 2005, . * ''Survival-Kit Mathematik. Mathe-Basics zum Studienbeginn.'' Vieweg + Teubner, Wiesbaden 2010, .

popular science

*''Pasta all´infinito. Meine italienische Reise in die Mathematik''. 2. Auflage. C.H. Beck, München 2000, *''Luftschlösser und Hirngespinste''. Vieweg, Braunschweig und Wiesbaden 1986 *''Geheimsprachen. Geschichte und Techniken''. 3. Auflage. C.H. Beck, München 2002, *''In Mathe war ich immer schlecht''. 3. Auflage. Vieweg, Braunschweig und Wiesbaden 2001, *''Christian und die Zahlenkünstler. Eine Reise in die wundersame Welt der Mathematik.'' C.H. Beck, München 2005, *''Albrecht Beutelspachers Kleines Mathematikum. Die 101 wichtigsten Fragen und Antworten zur Mathematik'', C.H. Beck, Munich 2010, * with Marcus Wagner: ''Warum Kühe gern im Halbkreis grasen. ... und andere mathematische Knobeleien.'' Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2010, . * ''Zahlen. Geschichte, Gesetze, Geheimnisse.'' C.H.Beck, München 2013, * ''Wie man in eine Seifenblase schlüpft.'' C.H.Beck, München 2015, . * with Marcus Wagner: ''Wie man einen Würfel aufpustet''. Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) 2019, ISBN 978-3-451-60068-5 * ''Null, unendlich und die wilde 13. Die wichtigsten Zahlen und ihre Geschichte''. C.H.Beck, München 2020, ISBN 978-3-406-74967-4

References

Benedictus-Gotthelf-Teubner-Förderpreis
*Barbara Czernek
''Letzte Vorlesung von Albrecht Beutelspacher an JLU Gießen''
Gießener Anzeiger, Juli 2018 (German) *Sabine Glinke
''Denker & Lenker (Teil 1): Albrecht Beutelspacher (Mathematikum)''
Gießen Entdecken (Stadtmagazin), 29 February 2016 (German)

External links

at the Mathematkum 1950 births University of Tübingen alumni Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni Academic staff of the University of Giessen Living people 20th-century German mathematicians {{germany-mathematician-stub