Erich Kamke (18 August 1890 – 28 September 1961) 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 ...

, who specialized in the theory of

differential equation In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation that relates one or more unknown functions and their derivatives. In applications, the functions generally represent physical quantities, the derivatives represent their rates of change, an ...

s. Also, his book on

set theory Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory, as a branch of mathematics, is mostly conce ...

became a standard introduction to the field.

Biography

Kamke was born in Marienburg,

West Prussia The Province of West Prussia (german: Provinz Westpreußen; csb, Zôpadné Prësë; pl, Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and 1878 to 1920. West Prussia was established as a province of the Kingdom of Prussia in 177 ...

, German Empire (modern Malbork, Poland). After attending school in Stettin, Kamke studied mathematics and physics from 1909 at 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 ...

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 ...

. He was a volunteer in the signals force in World War I. In 1919, he married Dora Heimowitch, who was the daughter of a Jewish businessman. He earned his doctorate in 1919 at the

under

Edmund Landau Edmund Georg Hermann Landau (14 February 1877 – 19 February 1938) was a German mathematician who worked in the fields of number theory and complex analysis. Biography Edmund Landau was born to a Jewish family in Berlin. His father was Leopol ...

with thesis ''Verallgemeinerungen des Waring-Hilbertschen Satzes'' (Generalizations of the Waring-Hilbert theorem). While teaching between 1920 and 1926, Kamke earned his habilitation at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...

in 1922. He was appointed as a professor 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� ...

in 1926. Because of his marriage and his opposition to

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...

, he was denounced by fellow mathematician Erich Schönhardt and eventually forced to retire in 1937.. Following World War II, he was reappointed as a professor at the

, and was instrumental in the organisation of a mathematical congress in

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in three ...

in autumn 1946, the first scientific congress in Germany after the war. In 1948, he re-established the

German Mathematical Society The German Mathematical Society (german: Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung, DMV) is the main professional society of German mathematicians and represents German mathematics within the European Mathematical Society (EMS) and the International Math ...

, and was the chairman until 1952, when he became vice-president of the

International Mathematical Union The International Mathematical Union (IMU) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of mathematics across the world. It is a member of the International Science Council (ISC) and supports ...

, which he remained until 1954. He died in

Rottenburg am Neckar Rottenburg am Neckar (; until 10 July 1964 only ''Rottenburg''; Swabian: ''Raodaburg'') is a medium-sized town in the administrative district (''Landkreis'') of Tübingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It lies about 50 kilometres (31 miles) s ...

from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

Works

* ''Das Lebesguesche Integral. Eine Einführung in die neuere Theorie der reellen Funktionen'', B. G. Teubner, Leipzig 1925 * ''Mengenlehre'', Sammlung Göschen/Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1928 * ''Differentialgleichungen reeller Funktionen'',

Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft The (AVG, AVg, Aka, AV; English: Academic publishing company) in Leipzig was an important German academic publisher, which was founded in 1906. The original Jewish owners of the publishing house and key employees were expropriated during the t ...

, Leipzig 1930; ab der 4. (überarbeiteten) Auflage 1962 in zwei Bänden: ** ''Band 1: Gewöhnliche Differentialgleichungen'' ** ''Band 2: Partielle Differentialgleichungen'' * ''Einführung in die Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie'', S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1932 * ''Differentialgleichungen. Lösungsmethoden und Lösungen I. Gewöhnliche Differentialgleichungen'', Leipzig 1942 * ''Differentialgleichungen. Lösungsmethoden und Lösungen II. Partielle Differentialgleichungen 1. Ordnung für eine gesuchte Funktion'', Leipzig 1944 * ''Das Lebesgue-Stieltjes-Integral'', B. G. Teubner, Leipzig 1956

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamke, Erich 1890 births 1961 deaths 20th-century German mathematicians People from Malbork People from West Prussia German Army personnel of World War I University of Giessen alumni University of Göttingen alumni University of Münster alumni Academic staff of the University of Tübingen