Johannes Tropfke (14 October 1866 – 10 November 1939) was a German mathematician and teacher, who is best remembered for his influential work on the history of mathematics ''Geschichte der Elementarmathematik'', which consists of seven volumes.

Life

Tropfke was born in Berlin at Marienstraße 14 as the older of two sons of the cabinet maker Franz Tropfke. The house in which Tropfke was born was built by his grandfather Franz Joseph Tropfke around 1830 and is one of the few houses in the area that was not destroyed during World War II. Tropfke grew up in Berlin and after his graduation from the Friedrichs-Gymnasium (high school) in 1884 he attended the university in Berlin to study sciences and mathematics. In 1889 he was awarded a degree to teach math and sciences at

gymnasiums A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ins ...

(high schools). Later he earned a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in mathematics from the University of Halle for a thesis on elliptic integrals (''Zur Darstellung des elliptischen Integrales erster Gattung''), his advisor was

Lazarus Fuchs Lazarus Immanuel Fuchs (5 May 1833 – 26 April 1902) was a Jewish-German mathematician who contributed important research in the field of linear differential equations. He was born in Moschin (Mosina) (located in Grand Duchy of Posen) and d ...

.Menso Folkerts
''Johannes Tropfke (1866-1939)''
at the websites of the ''Berliner Mathematische Gesellschaft'' (Berlin mathematical society), retrieved 2019-01-25 (German) Tropfke first worked as teacher at the Friedrichs-Realgymnasium and at the Realgymnasium of Dorotheenstadt and in 1913 he became the principal of the newly founded Kirschner-Oberrealschule in Moabit. Tropfke stayed on in this position until his retirement in 1932. In 1907 he was awarded the title of a professor. He was one of the first members of the International Academy of the History of Science and in 1939 he was awarded the

Leibniz medal The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin ...

by the Prussian Academy of Sciences. Aside from his work in education and mathematics Tropfke also had a career in local politics. He was a member of the German People's Party and served as council member for the city of Berlin from 1907 to 1920. Tropfke married Frida Thyssen. The couple had a son Erich, who perished in World War I, and a daughter Elisabeth. Tropfke died on 10 November 1939 in the very same house in which he was born.

Work

Tropfke's most important contributions were in the history of mathematics. His seminal work ''Geschichte der Elementarmathematik'' originally consisted of two volumes, when it was first published in 1902 and 1903. Later it got expanded into seven volumes for its second edition (1921-1924). For this second edition Tropfke was supported by the mathematicians and historians Gustaf Eneström,

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 ...

and

Heinrich Wieleitner 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 ...

. To incorporate the latest research Tropfke published revised third editions of the first three volumes in the 1930s. After his death the mathematician Kurt Vogel completed the third edition of the fourth volume in 1940. The structure and focus of Tropfke's work differed somewhat from most work in the history of mathematics at the time. Instead of structuring the material chronologically with a focus on the biography of mathematicians, Tropfke selected to organize it by mathematical fields and then focused on the development of concepts and terminology in those fields rather than on biographical aspects. In particular with its second edition Tropfke's ''Geschichte der Elementarmathematik'' was also one of the most extensive compilations on the history of mathematics, which led to it becoming a well known and influential reference work. The publication of a fourth revised edition under the direction of Kurt Vogel,

Karin Reich Karin Anna Reich is a German historian of mathematics. Career From 1967 to 1973 Reich was a scientific assistant at the Research Institute of the Deutsches Museum in Munich and the Institute for the History of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at ...

and

Helmuth Gericke Paul Fritz Helmuth Gericke (1909–2007) was a German mathematician and an historian of mathematics. Life Gericke was born in Aachen on 7 May 1909. From 1926 to 1931 he studied physics and mathematics at the universities of Greifswald, Marburg ...

began from 1980 onwards, more than 40 years after Tropfke's death. In 1930 Tropfke received the Ackermann–Teubner Memorial Award for his second edition of ''Geschichte der Elementarmathematik''.''Ackermann-Teubner memorial prize (Leipzig 1914-1941)''
(Html)
'' Ackermann-Teubner-Preis mit Originalzitaten (DMV / AMS 1914-1941)''
(pdf) at www.weiss-leipzig.de (retrieved 2019-01-25)

References

External links

*Menso Folkerts

at the websites of the ''Berliner Mathematische Gesellschaft'' (German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tropfke, Johannes German historians of mathematics Heads of schools in Germany 1866 births 1939 deaths