Iris Anna Runge (1 June 1888 – 27 January 1966) 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 ...
applied 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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
and
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
.
Life and work
Iris Runge was the eldest of six children of mathematician
Carl Runge
Carl David Tolmé Runge (; 30 August 1856 – 3 January 1927) was a German mathematician, physicist, and spectroscopist.
He was co-developer and co- eponym of the Runge–Kutta method (German pronunciation: ), in the field of what is today know ...
. She started studying
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 ...
,
mathematics, and
geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
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 ...
in 1907, with the aim of becoming a teacher. At that time, she only attended the lectures, since women were not allowed to formally study at
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
n universities until 1908–1909. She attended lectures given by her father and spent a semester at the
Ludwig Maximilians University in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
working with
Arnold Sommerfeld, which led to her first publication, ''Anwendungen der Vektorrechnung auf die Grundlagen der Geometrischen Optik'' ("Applications of
vector
Vector most often refers to:
*Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction
*Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism
Vector may also refer to:
Mathematic ...
calculations to the fundamentals of
geometric optics
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 ca ...
") in ''
Annalen der Physik
''Annalen der Physik'' (English: ''Annals of Physics'') is one of the oldest scientific journals on physics; it has been published since 1799. The journal publishes original, peer-reviewed papers on experimental, theoretical, applied, and mathe ...
'' ("Annals of Physics"). After passing her state exams (higher teachers' exam) in 1912, she taught at several schools (Lyzeum Göttingen, Oberlyzeum Kippenberg near
Bremen). She went back to the university in 1918 to study
chemistry. She took the supplementary examination for teachers in 1920. In 1920, she worked as a teacher at
Schule Schloss Salem
Schule Schloss Salem (Anglicisation: ''School of Salem Castle'', ''Salem Castle School'') is a boarding school with campuses in Salem and Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany.
It offers the German Abitur, as well as the Inter ...
. She received her doctorate in 1921 under the supervision of
Gustav Tammann, with a dissertation titled ''Über Diffusion im festen Zustande'' ("On diffusion in the solid state"). As a student, she was a personal assistant to
Leonard Nelson
Leonard Nelson (; ; 11 July 1882 – 29 October 1927), sometimes spelt Leonhard, was a German mathematician, critical philosopher, and socialist. He was part of the neo-Friesian school (named after post-Kantian philosopher Jakob Friedrich Fr ...
. During the political upheaval in Germany after the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
she was active in the election campaign of the ''
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been th ...
'' (Social Democratic Party of Germany, SPD), which at that time implemented
women's suffrage
Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...
in Germany. She joined the party in 1929.
In 1923 she gave up teaching and worked at
Osram as an
industrial mathematician.
Ellen Lax, who obtained her doctorate in 1919 under
Walther Nernst, was Runge's colleague there. There, in accordance with the company's products (light bulbs and
radio tubes), she worked on
heat conduction problems, electron emission in tubes, and statistics for quality control in mass production. On the last topic Runge co-authored a then-standard textbook. In 1929, she was promoted to a senior company official. From 1929 she was in the radio tubes department, and after the department was acquired by
Telefunken
Telefunken was a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the ''Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ('General electricity company').
The name "Telefunken" ap ...
in 1939, she moved to work in the new company until the dissolution of the laboratory in 1945.
After 1945, she taught at the adult education center in
Spandau
Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by land ...
and was a research assistant at the
Technical University of Berlin. In 1947 she
qualified as a professor at the
Humboldt 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 ...
. Her inaugural lecture was titled ''Über das Rauschen von Elektronenröhren'' ("On the noise in
electron tubes"); her published works were accepted in lieu of a habilitation thesis. In 1947, she was offered a teaching position there, and she worked until 1949 as an assistant to
Friedrich Möglich, the chair of the theoretical physics division at Humboldt University. In November 1949 she was appointed as a lecturer, and in July 1950 she became a professor with a teaching assignment. She was one of three women professors in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, the other two being
Elisabeth Schiemann and
Katharina Boll-Dornberger. From March 1949, she also worked part-time again for Telefunken. In 1952 she became an
emeritus professor
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
at Humboldt University, where she gave lectures on theoretical physics until the summer semester of 1952. She lived in
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
until 1965, and then moved to live with her brother in
Ulm
Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...
.
She translated the book ''
What Is Mathematics?'' by
Richard Courant
Richard Courant (January 8, 1888 – January 27, 1972) was a German American mathematician. He is best known by the general public for the book '' What is Mathematics?'', co-written with Herbert Robbins. His research focused on the areas of real ...
(who was married to one of her sisters) and
Herbert Robbins
Herbert Ellis Robbins (January 12, 1915 – February 12, 2001) was an American mathematician and statistician. He did research in topology, measure theory, statistics, and a variety of other fields.
He was the co-author, with Richard Co ...
into
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 ...
, and wrote a biography of her father, ''Carl Runge und sein wissenschaftliches Werk'' ("Carl Runge and his scientific works").
Publications
*Arnold Sommerfeld, Iris Runge, ''Anwendungen der Vektorrechnung auf die Grundlagen der Geometrischen Optik'' ("Applications of
vector
Vector most often refers to:
*Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction
*Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism
Vector may also refer to:
Mathematic ...
calculations to the fundamentals of
geometric optics
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 ca ...
"), Annalen der Physik, Vol. 340, 1911, pp. 277–298
*
Richard Becker,
Hubert Plaut, Iris Runge, ''Anwendungen der mathematischen Statistik auf Probleme der Massenfabrikation'' ("Applications of mathematical statistics to problems of mass production"), Springer Verlag 1927
*Iris Runge, ''Carl Runge und sein wissenschaftliches Werk'' ("Carl Runge and his scientific works"), Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen, 1949 (reprinted from Abh. Akad. Wiss. Göttingen)
References
*Kathrin Randl, ''Prof. Dr. Iris Runge (1888–1966)'', in ''Akteneinsicht'', Lit Verlag 2012
*
Renate Tobies
Renate A. Tobies (born January 25, 1947) is a German mathematician and historian of mathematics known for her biographies of Felix Klein and Iris Runge.
Education and career
Tobies grew up in East Germany, and studied mathematics and chemistry a ...
, ''Iris Runge. A Life at the Crossroads of Mathematics, Science and Industry'', Birkhäuser 2012
*
External links
Biography of Iris Runge on the website of Humboldt University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Runge, Iris
1888 births
1966 deaths
20th-century German mathematicians
20th-century German physicists
20th-century German women scientists
German people of French descent
German women mathematicians
German women physicists
University of Göttingen alumni
Academic staff of the Technical University of Berlin
Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin
20th-century women mathematicians