![Walther,Alwin 1964 Darmstadt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Walther%2CAlwin_1964_Darmstadt.jpg)
Alwin Oswald Walther (born 6 May 1898 in Reick; died 4 January 1967 in
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
)
was 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 ...
,
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
and
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
. He is one of the pioneers of mechanical
computing technology
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, e ...
in Germany.
Life
![Gedenkblatt Alwin Walther](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Gedenkblatt_Alwin_Walther.jpeg)
Alwin Walther was born in May 1898 in Reick near Dresden. From 1916 to 1919 Walther served his
military service
Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription).
Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require a ...
.
He was wounded twice and received the
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross (german: link=no, Eisernes Kreuz, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, and later in the German Empire (1871–1918) and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). King Frederick William III of Prussia est ...
1st Class.
From 1919 to 1922 he studied
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
at the
Technical University of Dresden
TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...
and the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
.
In 1922, he received his
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
to Dr. rer. tech. (today according to
Dr.-Ing.
The Doktoringenieur (acronym Dr.-Ing., also ''Doktor der Ingenieurwissenschaften'') is the German engineering doctorate degree, comparable to the Doctor of Engineering, Engineering Doctorate, Doctor of Science (Engineering), Doctor of Science ...
) from the University of Göttingen under the supervision of
Gerhard Kowalewski
Gerhard Kowalewski (27 March 1876 – 21 February 1950) was a German mathematician and member of the Nazi party who introduced the matrices notation.
Early life
Waldemar Hermann Gerhard Kowalewski was born March 27, 1876, in Alt Järshagen in P ...
and . From 1922 to 1928, he was assistant and senior Assistant to
Richard Courant
Richard Courant (January 8, 1888 – January 27, 1972) was a German American mathematician. He is best known by the general public for the book '' What is Mathematics?'', co-written with Herbert Robbins. His research focused on the areas of real ...
at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Göttingen.
In 1924, he
habilitated
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...
and became a
Privatdozent
''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...
.
The year before, he stayed in Copenhagen for scientific purposes. From 1926 to 1927 he was a
Rockefeller Fellow
The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...
in Copenhagen and Stockholm.
On 1 April 1928 Walther became a full professor of mathematics at the
Technische Hochschule Darmstadt and director of the Institute for Applied Mathematics, which he built.
In 1955, he was a visiting professor at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
Alwin Walther,
Heinz Billing
Heinz Billing (7 April 1914 – 4 January 2017) was a German physicist and computer scientist, widely considered a pioneer in the construction of computer systems and computer data storage, who built a prototype laser interferometric gravitatio ...
,
Helmut Schreyer
Helmut Theodor Schreyer (4 July 1912 – 12 December 1984) was a German inventor. He is mostly known for his work on the Z3, one of the first computers.
Early life
Helmut Schreyer was the son of the minister Paul Schreyer and Martha. When his ...
,
Konrad Zuse
Konrad Ernst Otto Zuse (; 22 June 1910 – 18 December 1995) was a German civil engineer, pioneering computer scientist, inventor and businessman. His greatest achievement was the world's first programmable computer; the functional program-c ...
and
Alan Turing
Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...
met in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...
in 1947. In the form of a colloquium, British experts (including
John R. Womersley
John Ronald Womersley (20 June 1907 – 7 March 1958) was a British mathematician and computer scientist who made important contributions to computer development, and hemodynamics. Nowadays he is principally remembered for his contribution ...
,
Arthur Porter and Alan Turing) interviewed Walther, Billing, Schreyer and Zuse.
Walther retired on 30 September 1966.
A few months later he died after a short illness at the age of 68 years in Darmstadt.
Work
Walther attached great importance to questions of the practical application of mathematics. Alwin Walther was one of the first to adapt the mathematics to the requirements of the engineers.
In the early 1930s he developed the
slide rule
The slide rule is a mechanical analog computer which is used primarily for multiplication and division, and for functions such as exponents, roots, logarithms, and trigonometry. It is not typically designed for addition or subtraction, which is ...
s "System Darmstadt", which was widely used in engineering.
On his initiative, the German Computing Centre in Darmstadt and the
International Computing Centre
The United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC) was established in 1971 by a Memorandum of Agreement among the United Nations (UN), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), pursuant t ...
in Rome were built.
Walter was a nominator in two nominations for the Nobel Prize in Physics,
Peter Debye
Peter Joseph William Debye (; ; March 24, 1884 – November 2, 1966) was a Dutch-American physicist and physical chemist, and Nobel laureate in Chemistry.
Biography
Early life
Born Petrus Josephus Wilhelmus Debije in Maastricht, Netherlands, D ...
(1930) and
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and ...
(1936).
Peter Schnell
Peter M. Schnell (* 10 June 1938 in Berlin) is a German computer scientist, founder of Software AG and long-time chairman of the ''Vorstand'', executive board.
Life
He grew up in Alsbach-Hähnlein near Darmstadt. Schnell was impressed by the ...
, founder of
Software AG
Founded in 1969, Software AG is an enterprise software company with over 10,000 enterprise customers in over 70 countries. The company is the second largest software vendor in Germany, and the seventh largest in Europe. Software AG is traded on t ...
,
Rudolf Zurmühl and
Helmut Hoelzer, the inventor and constructor of the world's first electronic analog computer, were his students.
From 1952 to 1955 he was chairman of the
Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik
Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik ("Society of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics"), often referred to by the acronym GAMM, is a German society for the promotion of science, founded in 1922 by the physicist Ludwig Prandtl and th ...
(GAMM).
From 1958 he was board member of the
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional member ...
(ACM) and from 1959 to 1962 he was vice president of the newly founded
International Federation for Information Processing
The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) is a global organisation for researchers and professionals working in the field of computing to conduct research, develop standards and promote information sharing.
Established in 196 ...
(IFIP).
Alwin Walther was active for many years in the Association of Friends of the Technische Universität Darmstadt. In March 1933 he became deputy secretary. In the following year, until the late 1940s, he was their
treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance.
Government
The treasury o ...
. In 1950, the general assembly appointed him as honorary member of the Association.
Institute for Applied Mathematics
In 1928, Alwin Walther built the Institute for Applied Mathematics at the
Technische Hochschule Darmstadt.
It was the first Institute for Applied Mathematics in Germany.
The focus of the institute was on the development of electronic arithmetic. Already at the end of the thirties, he set up a computing station in his institute.
The computing capacity was unique in Europe at the time.
At the computing station two decades before the invention of programming languages, algorithms were tested and used successfully in the processing of problems from industry.
In Germany, the beginnings of
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
go back to the Institute for Applied Mathematics of the TH Darmstadt.
In 1956, the first programming lectures and internships in Germany were offered at the TH Darmstadt.
The Institute for Applied Mathematics contributed to Zuse's
Z4 by providing parts and components.
![IBM 650 TH Darmstadt 1957 nachts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/IBM_650_TH_Darmstadt_1957_nachts.jpg)
In 1951, the development of the digital electronic computing machine "Darmstädter Elektronischer Rechenautomat (DERA)" in tube technology was started.
Around the same time, Walther procured a computer of the highest performance class, an
IBM 650
The IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Data-Processing Machine is an early digital computer produced by IBM in the mid-1950s. It was the first mass produced computer in the world. Almost 2,000 systems were produced, the last in 1962, and it was the first ...
, for the TH Darmstadt.
The TH Darmstadt was thus the first university in Germany to have a
mainframe computer
A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterpris ...
.
Due to the reputation that the TH Darmstadt had at the time in computer science research, the first international congress on computer science held in German-speaking countries took place in October 1955 at the TH Darmstadt.
Awards
* 1950: Honorary member of the Association of Friends of the
Technische Universität Darmstadt
The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmstadt ...
.
* 1959: Silver
Medal of the City of Paris
The Medal of the City of Paris (french: Médaille de la Ville de Paris) is a distinction created in 1911 and awarded by the mayor of Paris on the proposal of elected members of the Paris Council or associations. There are several levels: bronze, s ...
on the occasion of his preparation for a UNESCO Congress for Information Processing
* 1963: Silver merit plaque of the city
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
* 1963: Honorary doctorate from the
TU Dresden
TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...
Publications (selection)
* ''Einführung in die mathematische Behandlung naturwissenschaftlicher Fragen'', Springer, Berlin, 1928.
* ''Unterricht und Forschung im Institut für Praktische Mathematik (IPM) der Technischen Hochschule Darmstadt'', Der mathematische Unterricht in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Kapitel XVIII, S. 260–274.
* ''Fastperiodische Folgen und Potenzreihen mit fastperiodischen Koeffizienten''; Abhandlungen aus dem Mathematischen Seminar der Universität Hamburg; 6,217–234 (1928).
Alwin-Walther-Medal
From 1997 to 2010, the departments of computer science and mathematics at the
Technische Universität Darmstadt
The Technische Universität Darmstadt (official English name Technical University of Darmstadt, sometimes also referred to as Darmstadt University of Technology), commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmstadt ...
awarded an Alwin-Walther-Medal for outstanding achievements, as well as for exceptional research and development work in the fields of computer science or applied mathematics.
Literature
* Melanie Hanel: ''Normalität unter Ausnahmebedingungen. Die TH Darmstadt im Nationalsozialismus'', Darmstadt 2014.
* Technische Universität Darmstadt: ''Technische Bildung in Darmstadt. Die Entwicklung der Technischen Hochschule 1836–1996'', Volume 4, Darmstadt 1998.
* Wilhelm Barth: Alwin Walther – Praktische Mathematik und Computer an der THD, in: Technische Hochschule Darmstadt Jahrbuch 1978/79, Darmstadt, 1979, S. 29–34.
* Alwin Walther: Pionier des Wissenschaftlichen Rechnens, Wissenschaftliches Kolloquium anlässlich des hundertsten Geburtstages, 8. Mai 1998, Darmstadt 1999, published by Hans-Jürgen Hoffmann.
* Christa Wolf and Marianne Viefhaus: ''Verzeichnis der Hochschullehrer der TH Darmstadt'', Darmstadt 1977.
External links
*
Klaus Biener: Alwin Walther – Pionier der Praktischen Mathematik.cms-journal Nr. 18, August 1999, Humboldt-University of Berlin.
* Alwin Walther presents DERA in 1963 and answers questions about the future,
film on YouTube(Video, 37 min).
Notes and references
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walther, Alwin
1967 deaths
1898 births
Academic staff of Technische Universität Darmstadt
20th-century German mathematicians