Gudrun Kalmbach (born 27 May 1937 in

Großerlach Großerlach is a municipality in the district of Rems-Murr in Baden-Württemberg in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe aft ...

) is a German mathematician and educator known for her contributions in the field of

quantum logic In the mathematical study of logic and the physical analysis of quantum foundations, quantum logic is a set of rules for manipulation of propositions inspired by the structure of quantum theory. The field takes as its starting point an observat ...

and for the educational programmes she developed.

Career

After teacher training in mathematics and chemistry, Kalmbach obtained a PhD at 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 ...

under the supervision of

Hans Grauert Hans Grauert (8 February 1930 in Haren, Emsland, Germany – 4 September 2011) was a German mathematician. He is known for major works on several complex variables, complex manifolds and the application of sheaf theory in this area, which ...

on the topic of low-dimensional

CW complex A CW complex (also called cellular complex or cell complex) is a kind of a topological space that is particularly important in algebraic topology. It was introduced by J. H. C. Whitehead (open access) to meet the needs of homotopy theory. This cla ...

es in non-

compact Compact as used in politics may refer broadly to a pact or treaty; in more specific cases it may refer to: * Interstate compact * Blood compact, an ancient ritual of the Philippines * Compact government, a type of colonial rule utilized in British ...

manifold In mathematics, a manifold is a topological space that locally resembles Euclidean space near each point. More precisely, an n-dimensional manifold, or ''n-manifold'' for short, is a topological space with the property that each point has a n ...

s. From 1967 to 1969, Kalmbach taught at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

. After this she held positions as assistant professor at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

(1970–1971) and

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

(1969–1975). In 1975, she qualified as professor at the

University of Ulm Ulm University (german: Universität Ulm) is a public university in Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The university was founded in 1967 and focuses on natural sciences, medicine, engineering sciences, mathematics, economics and computer sci ...

, becoming the first female professor in

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 c ...

(at the chair of

number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777� ...

and

probability theory Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set o ...

). She worked there until her retirement in 2002. Kalmbach's research deals with

lattice theory A lattice is an abstract structure studied in the mathematical subdisciplines of order theory and abstract algebra. It consists of a partially ordered set in which every pair of elements has a unique supremum (also called a least upper bou ...

and quantum structures. She was involved in developing the field of quantum structures in the 1990s. Her current research project is MINT-Wigris. In addition to her research career, Kalmbach invented in 1985 the talent program in

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

subjects (called MINT in Germany). Part of this is the yearly mathematics competition at the University of Ulm. From this, pupils were selected to attend a mathematics summer school with teaching in computer science, chemistry, physics and where they were introduced to university mathematics. She was a founder of

European Women in Mathematics European Women in Mathematics (EWM) is an international association of women working in the field of mathematics in Europe. The association participates in political and strategic work to promote the role of women in mathematics and offers its mem ...

, and a member and chair of the

Emmy Noether Amalie Emmy NoetherEmmy is the ''Rufname'', the second of two official given names, intended for daily use. Cf. for example the résumé submitted by Noether to Erlangen University in 1907 (Erlangen University archive, ''Promotionsakt Emmy Noethe ...

Verein which supports female mathematicians. Kalmbach now lives in

Bad Wörishofen Bad Wörishofen () is a spa town in the district of Unterallgäu in Bavaria, Germany, known for the water-cure (hydrotherapy) developed by Sebastian Kneipp (1821–1897), a Catholic priest who lived there for 42 years. Many of the resort hotels an ...

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * Kalmbach H.E., G. ‘‘Archives KHE 1967-2019.‘‘ Bad Woerishofen, about 1000 volumes on science, mathematics, equal opportunity for women in mathematics * Kalmbach, G. ‘‘Orthomodular Logic.‘‘ Z. Logik und Grundl. Math. 20 (1974), 395-406 * Kalmbach (ed.), G. ‘‘Proceedings of the Lattice Theory Conference.‘‘ Universitaet Ulm, 1975 * Kalmbach, G. ‘‘On some results in Morse Theory.‘‘ Canadian J. Math. 26 (1975), 88-105 * Kalmbach, G. ‘‘Extension of topological Homology Theory to Partially Ordered Sets.‘‘ J. reine und angew. Math. 280 (1976), 134-156

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalmbach, Gudrun 1937 births Living people People from Rems-Murr-Kreis People from the Free People's State of Württemberg 20th-century German mathematicians German women mathematicians 21st-century women mathematicians German expatriates in the United States 20th-century women mathematicians 21st-century German mathematicians University of Göttingen alumni University of Ulm faculty Pennsylvania State University faculty University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty 20th-century German women 21st-century German women