Heinrich Wieleitner (31 October 1874 – 27 December 1931) was a German mathematician and historian of mathematics. He became an honorary professor of mathematics at the University of Munich but for much of his career worked in school- and college-level education. Wieleitner was born in Wasserburg and was educated at the Catholic seminaries at

Scheyern Scheyern is a municipality in the district of Pfaffenhofen in Bavaria in Germany. The Scheyern Abbey Scheyern Abbey, formerly also Scheyern Priory (german: Kloster Scheyern), is a house of the Benedictine Order in Scheyern in Bavaria. First ...

and

Freising Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising ''Landkreis'' (district), with a population of about 50,000. Location Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the Is ...

in theology but took an interest in mathematics, joining the University of Munich. He received a Lamont scholarship proposed by C. L. F. Lindemann and went on to receive a doctorate on third order surfaces (Über die Flächen dritter Ordnung mit Ovalpunkten) in 1901. He then became a mathematics teacher at the

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer li ...

Gymnasium and in 1909 moved to

Pirmasens Pirmasens (; pfl, Bärmesens (also ''Bermesens'' or ''Bärmasens'')) is an independent town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It was famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called ''Lan ...

before returning to Speyer as a headmaster of the Realschule. In 1926 he was promoted Oberstudiendirektor at Munich. He became interested in Italian work on geometry following his attendance of the

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the Nevanlinna Prize (to be rename ...

held at Heidelberg (1904) and Rome (1908), leading to translations of an article by

Gino Loria Gino Benedetto Loria (19 May 1862, Mantua – 30 January 1954, Genoa) was a Jewish-Italian mathematician and historian of mathematics. Loria studied mathematics in Mantua, Turin, and Pavia and received his doctorate in 1883 from the University o ...

and he worked on a German edition of

Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Fren ...

's work along with Edgardo Ciani.

Arnold Sommerfeld Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld, (; 5 December 1868 – 26 April 1951) was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and mentored many students for the new era of theoretica ...

suggested that he do his

habilitation 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 so he held lectures on the history of mathematics at the University of Munich from 1928 and in 1930 he was made an honorary professor. Wieleitner worked on an unfinished manuscript by

Anton von Braunmühl Johann Anton Edler von Braunmühl (22 December 1853, Tiflis – 7 March 1908, München) was a German historian of mathematics and mathematician who worked on synthetic geometry and trigonometry. Braunmühl was born in Tiflis but came from a Bavar ...

(died in 1908) on the history of mathematics after Braunmühl and

Siegmund Günther Adam Wilhelm Siegmund Günther (6 February 1848 – 3 February 1923) was a German geographer, mathematician, historian of mathematics and natural scientist. Early life Born in 1848 to a German businessman, Günther would go on to attend several G ...

had worked on a history, Geschichte der Mathematik, the first volume of which came out in 1908. Wieleitner later published a history of mathematical ideas that did not spend too much space on the biographies of people involved which was published by Sammlung Göschen between 1922 and 1923. He also contributed to a translation of the trigonometry of Al-Biruni by

Julius Ruska Julius Ferdinand Ruska (9 February 1867, Bühl, Baden – 11 February 1949, Schramberg) was a German orientalist, historian of science and educator. He was a critical scholar of alchemical literature, and of Islamic science, raising many issues ...

Selected publications

* Geschichte der Mathematik (Volume 1, 1922) ( 1908 edition) * Spezielle ebene kurven (1908)

References

External links

Portrait at the International Academy of the History of Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wieleitner, Heinrich 20th-century German mathematicians 1874 births 1931 deaths People from Wasserburg am Inn