Martin Hugo Löb (; 31 March 1921 – 21 August 2006) was a German

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 ...

. He settled in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and specialised in

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal ...

. He moved to

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Nether ...

in the 1970s, where he remained in retirement. He is perhaps best known for having formulated Löb's theorem in 1955.

Early life and education

Löb grew up in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, but escaped from the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, arriving in the UK just before the outbreak of the

. As an

enemy alien In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and ...

, he was deported on the ''

Dunera HMT (Hired Military Transport) ''Dunera'' was a British passenger ship which, in 1940, became involved in a controversial transportation of thousands of "enemy aliens" to Australia. The British India Steam Navigation Company had operated a pre ...

'' to an

internment camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

in Australia in 1940, where the 19-year-old Löb was taught mathematics by other internees. His teacher, Felix Behrend, was later a professor at

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

. Löb was allowed to return to the UK in 1943, and he studied at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

after the War. After graduating, he became a research student with Reuben Goodstein at the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_la ...

. He completed his

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 ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

and became an assistant lecturer at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

in 1951, where he was to remain for 20 years, becoming a Reader and ultimately

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

of Mathematical Logic from 1967 to 1970. He developed the

group at Leeds, making it one of the leading centres in the UK. Löb did research on proof theory, modal logic and

computability theory Computability theory, also known as recursion theory, is a branch of mathematical logic, computer science, and the theory of computation that originated in the 1930s with the study of computable functions and Turing degrees. The field has since ...

. He formulated Löb's theorem in 1955, as a formal version of

Löb's paradox Curry's paradox is a paradox in which an arbitrary claim ''F'' is proved from the mere existence of a sentence ''C'' that says of itself "If ''C'', then ''F''", requiring only a few apparently innocuous logical deduction rules. Since ''F'' is arbi ...

, that statements that assert their own provability must be true (similar to Gödel's incompleteness theorem). Löb's wife, Caroline, was Dutch. They had two daughters together. Löb moved to become a professor at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other bein ...

in the early 1970s. He remained at the University of Amsterdam until he retired. He then moved to

Annen Annen is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. Located in the municipality of Aa en Hunze, it lies about 12 km (7.4 mi) northeast of Assen. History The village was first mentioned in 1309 as Anne. The etymology is unknown. Annen is an ...

, where he later died.

References

*
Obituary
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', 3 October 2006
Obituary
Institute for Logic, Language and Computation,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lob, Martin 1921 births 2006 deaths 20th-century German mathematicians German logicians Alumni of the University of London Alumni of the University of Leicester Academics of the University of Leeds Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam Scientists from Berlin German emigrants to the United Kingdom

Early life and education

See also

References