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, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

. 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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and specialised in

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of logic, 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 for ...

. 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 Netherl ...

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

Löb's theorem In mathematical logic, Löb's theorem states that in Peano arithmetic (PA) (or any formal system including PA), for any formula ''P'', if it is provable in PA that "if ''P'' is provable in PA then ''P'' is true", then ''P'' is provable in PA. If Pr ...

in 1955.

Early life and education

Löb grew up in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, 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 prev ...

'' 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 simply ...

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 domesticat ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1940, where the 19-year-old Löb was taught mathematics by other internees. His teacher,

Felix Behrend Felix Adalbert Behrend (23 April 1911 – 27 May 1962) was a German mathematician of Jewish descent who escaped Nazi Germany and settled in Australia. His research interests included combinatorics, number theory, and topology. Behrend's theor ...

, 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 nor ...

. 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 degree ...

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

Reuben Goodstein Reuben Louis Goodstein (15 December 1912 – 8 March 1985) was an English mathematician with a strong interest in the philosophy and teaching of mathematics. Education Goodstein was educated at St Paul's School in London. He received his Master ...

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_labe ...

. He completed his PhD 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 A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

and ultimately

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

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 Proof theory is a major branchAccording to Wang (1981), pp. 3–4, proof theory is one of four domains mathematical logic, together with model theory, axiomatic set theory, and recursion theory. Jon Barwise, Barwise (1978) consists of four correspo ...

modal logic Modal logic is a collection of formal systems developed to represent statements about necessity and possibility. It plays a major role in philosophy of language, epistemology, metaphysics, and natural language semantics. Modal logics extend other ...

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 e ...

. He formulated

in 1955, as a formal version of Löb's paradox, 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 being ...

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. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 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