Hans-Joachim Bremermann (1926–1996) was a German-American mathematician and

biophysicist Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study Biology, biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from Molecule, molecular to organismic ...

. He worked on

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 ...

and

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

, introducing ideas of how mating generates new gene combinations.

Bremermann's limit Bremermann's limit, named after Hans-Joachim Bremermann, is a limit on the maximum rate of computation that can be achieved in a self-contained system in the material universe. It is derived from Einstein's mass-energy equivalency and the Heisenb ...

, named after him, is the maximum computational speed of a self-contained system in the material universe.

Early life

Bremermann was born in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, to Bernard Bremermann and Berta Wicke. Bremermann undertook doctoral studies at the

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

, completing his Staatsexamen in mathematics and

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

in 1951. In the same year his doctoral dissertation ''Die Charakterisierung von Regularitätsgebieten durch pseudokonvexe Funktionen'' and was to become a specialist in complex analysis. This was a special case of the

Levi problem In mathematics, in the theory of several complex variables and complex manifolds, a Stein manifold is a complex submanifold of the vector space of ''n'' complex dimensions. They were introduced by and named after . A Stein space is similar to a St ...

Career

He came to the United States in 1952 to a research associate position at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. In 1953, he was appointed a research fellow at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He returned to Munster for 1954–55. After returning to the United States, he spent 1955–57 at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

. He was then appointed assistant professor at the

University of Washington, Seattle The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle ...

for 1957–58. He held chairs 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 ...

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 ...

and

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

. He was promoted to full

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 ...

in 1966. In 1978 he gave the "What Physicists Do" series of lectures at

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, California, US. It is one of the smallest members of the California State University (CSU) system. Sonoma State offers 92 Bachelor's d ...

, discussing physical limitations to mathematical understanding of physical and biological systems. He continued work in mathematical biology through the 1980s on models of parasites and disease, neural networks, and

AIDS epidemiology The global epidemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 2021, HIV/AI ...

and pathology.

Personal life

On 16 May 1954 Bremermann married Maria Isabel Lopez Perez-Ojeda, a scholar of romance language and literature.

Legacy

R.W. Anderson writes:

remermanncontinued to develop mathematical modelling as a tool to understanding complex (especially biological) systems for the rest of his life. His intellectual journey was marked by brilliant insight and foresight.

He retired from the University of California in 1991. A festschrift was published with a brief biography and 13 scientific papers of his former students and colleagues in 1995 in a special issue of ''

BioSystems ''BioSystems'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering experimental, computational, and theoretical research that links biology, evolution, and the information processing sciences. It was established in 1967 as ''Currents in Modern B ...

''.

References

External links

"Hans Joachim Bremermann"
at the

MacTutor History of Mathematics archive The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive is a website maintained by John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson and hosted by the University of St Andrews in Scotland. It contains detailed biographies on many historical and contemporary mathemati ...

The UC Berkeley Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bremermann, Hans-Joachim 1926 births 1996 deaths University of Münster alumni German emigrants to the United States Harvard Fellows Stanford University staff University of Washington faculty University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Scientists from Bremen 20th-century German mathematicians

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links