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Johanna (Hanna) Neumann (née von Caemmerer; 12 February 1914 – 14 November 1971) was a
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
-born mathematician who worked on
group theory In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as rings, fields, and vector spaces, can all be seen as ...
.


Biography

Neumann was born on 12 February 1914 in
Lankwitz Lankwitz () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Berlin. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Steglitz. History The locality was first mentioned in 1239 with the name of ''Lankow ...
, Steglitz-Zehlendorf (today a
district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
of Berlin), Germany. She was the youngest of three children of Hermann and Katharina von Caemmerer. As a result of her father's death in the first days of the First World War, the family income was small, and from the age of thirteen she was coaching school children. After two years at a private school she entered the Auguste-Viktoria-Schule, a girls' grammar school ( Realgymnasium), in 1922. She graduated in early 1932 and then entered the
University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
. The lecture courses in mathematics that she took in her first year were: Introduction to Higher Mathematics given by Georg Feigl; Analytical Geometry and Projective Geometry both given by Ludwig Bieberbach, Differential and Integral Calculus given by Erhard Schmidt, and the Theory of Numbers given by
Friedrich Schur Friedrich Heinrich Schur (27 January 1856, Maciejewo, Krotoschin, Province of Posen – 18 March 1932, Breslau) was a German mathematician who studied geometry. Life and work Schur's family was originally Jewish, but converted to Protestan ...
. She also took formal courses in physics, and attended lectures in psychology, literature and law. As a result of her first year work, Hanna was awarded three-quarters' remission of fees and a position as a part-time assistant in the Mathematical Institute's library. A friendship between Hanna and
Bernhard Neumann Bernhard Hermann Neumann (15 October 1909 – 21 October 2002) was a German-born British-Australian mathematician, who was a leader in the study of group theory. Early life and education After gaining a D.Phil. from Friedrich-Wilhelms Universit ...
began in January 1933. In March 1933, the
Nazis 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 ...
came to power and in August 1933, Bernhard, who was Jewish, moved to
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge becam ...
, England. She visited Bernhard in London at Easter 1934 and they became secretly engaged. After this she returned to Germany to continue her studies. In her second year Neumann was part of a group of students who tried to prevent Nazi disruption of Jewish academics' lectures by ensuring that only genuine students attended. She lost her job in the Mathematical Institute, presumably as a result of such activities. However she had by then been awarded, and continued to earn for the rest of her course, full remission of fees. In the remainder of her undergraduate degree, she studied mathematics, physics and philosophy. She completed her studies in 1936 with distinctions in the Staatsexamen in mathematics and physics. She began studying for her
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
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 i ...
in 1937, under the supervision of Helmut Hasse. During this time Bernhard and Hanna corresponded anonymously through friends, and were only able to meet once, in Denmark in 1936 when Bernhard was travelling to the International Congress of Mathematicians in Oslo. In July 1938, Hanna moved to England. She married Bernhard in December 1938 in Cardiff. They went on to have five children. The Neumanns moved to Oxford in 1940. Neumann completed her D Phil. in group theory at the Society of Oxford Home-Students in 1944 under Olga Taussky-Todd. Her thesis was entitled 'Sub-group Structure of Free Products of Groups with an Amalgamated Subgroup'. The University of Oxford later awarded her a D.Sc. for her publications. Following her naturalisation as a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
citizen, she took a teaching position at the
University of Hull , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...
in 1946. From 1958 she took up a lecturing post at the Mathematics Department of Manchester College of Science and Technology (later to become UMIST). In 1961-1962 the Neumanns spent a year at the
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (commonly known as Courant or CIMS) is the mathematics research school of New York University (NYU), and is among the most prestigious mathematics schools and mathematical sciences research cente ...
. The Neumanns moved to Australia in August 1963 to take academic positions at the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
in
Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ...
. She was made chair of pure mathematics in 1964 and was dean of students between 1968 and 1969. She died from a
cerebral aneurysm An intracranial aneurysm, also known as a brain aneurysm, is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel. Aneurysms in the posterior circ ...
while on a lecture tour in Ottawa, Ontario. A building at the Australian National University was named in her honour in 1973. Four of her five children became mathematicians including Peter M. Neumann and Walter Neumann.


Research and publications

Her most widely known work "Varieties of Groups" was published in 1967. It has been translated into Russian. She published 34 articles, most in international journals. Hanna and her husband are known for the Higman-Neumann-Neumann construction in group theory, and the
Hanna Neumann conjecture In the mathematical subject of group theory, the Hanna Neumann conjecture is a statement about the rank of the intersection of two finitely generated subgroups of a free group. The conjecture was posed by Hanna Neumann in 1957.Hanna Neumann. ''On ...
is named after her.


Teaching and supervision

At the time of her appointment, the Department at ANU had recently started an honours programme in mathematics and were looking for a relatively senior pure mathematician to be responsible for that aspect of the courses. Neumann
began organizing courses which would show the students something of mathematics as she saw it. She was able to introduce into the first year course, which had till then been entirely problem-oriented, a small strand of one lecture a week of an introduction to mathematics in the style of Feigl-Rohrbach. The later-year algebra courses much more thoroughly reflected her own interests and views. She continued to develop a style of teaching which aimed at making the acquisition of very abstract ideas accessible through judicious use of more concrete examples and well-graded exercises.
Hanna supervised 10 doctoral students and has 51 descendants.


Recognition

*
Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science The Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science is made up of about 500 Australian scientists. Scientists judged by their peers to have made an exceptional contribution to knowledge in their field may be elected to Fellowship of the Academy ...
, elected in 1969. * Fellow of the
Australian College of Educators The Australian College of Educators (ACE) is an Australian national professional association for educators. Membership is open to all professional educators working in the early childhood, school, and tertiary education sectors, as well as to ed ...
, elected in 1970. * Two buildings at the
Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
have been named after her. * Neumann Place in the Canberra suburb of Florey is named in her honour.


See also

*
Hanna Neumann conjecture In the mathematical subject of group theory, the Hanna Neumann conjecture is a statement about the rank of the intersection of two finitely generated subgroups of a free group. The conjecture was posed by Hanna Neumann in 1957.Hanna Neumann. ''On ...
* HNN extension * February 12#Births


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neumann, Hanna Academics of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Göttingen alumni Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Academics of the University of Hull 20th-century German mathematicians Group theorists 20th-century British mathematicians 1914 births 1971 deaths Australian National University faculty People from Steglitz-Zehlendorf Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences faculty 20th-century women mathematicians Scientists from Berlin German emigrants to the United Kingdom