Max Deuring (9 December 1907 – 20 December 1984) 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 is known for his work in
arithmetic geometry
In mathematics, arithmetic geometry is roughly the application of techniques from algebraic geometry to problems in number theory. Arithmetic geometry is centered around Diophantine geometry, the study of rational points of algebraic varieties. ...
, in particular on
elliptic curve
In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a smooth, projective, algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point . An elliptic curve is defined over a field and describes points in , the Cartesian product of with itself. If ...
s in
characteristic p
In mathematics, the characteristic of a ring , often denoted , is defined to be the smallest number of times one must use the ring's multiplicative identity (1) in a sum to get the additive identity (0). If this sum never reaches the additive ide ...
. He worked also in
analytic number theory.
Deuring graduated from 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 1930, then began working with
Emmy Noether
Amalie Emmy NoetherEmmy is the '' Rufname'', the second of two official given names, intended for daily use. Cf. for example the résumé submitted by Noether to Erlangen University in 1907 (Erlangen University archive, ''Promotionsakt Emmy Noeth ...
, who noted his mathematical acumen even as an undergraduate. When she was forced to leave Germany in 1933, she urged that the university offer her position to Deuring. In 1935 he published a report entitled ''Algebren'' ("Algebras"), which established his notability in the world of mathematics. He went on to serve as ''Ordinarius'' at
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approxima ...
and
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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, then took a position as ''ordentlicher Lehrstuhl'' at Göttingen, where he remained until his retirement.
[ Dick, Auguste. ''Emmy Noether: 1882–1935''. Trans. H. I. Blocher. Boston: Birkhäuser, 1981. . p. 54.]
Deuring was a fellow of the
Leopoldina. His doctoral students include
Max Koecher and
Hans-Egon Richert
Hans-Egon Richert (June 2, 1924 – November 25, 1993) was a German mathematician who worked primarily in analytic number theory. He is the author (with Heini Halberstam) of a definitive book
on sieve theory.
Life and education
Hans-Egon Riche ...
.
Selected works
* ''Algebren'', Springer 1935
* ''Sinn und Bedeutung der mathematischen Erkenntnis'', Felix Meiner, Hamburg 1949
* ''Klassenkörper der komplexen Multiplikation'', Teubner 1958
* ''Lectures on the theory of algebraic functions of one variable'', 1973 (from lectures at the
Tata Institute,
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
)
Sources
* Peter Roquette ''Über die algebraisch-zahlentheoretischen Arbeiten von Max Deuring'', Jahresbericht DMV Vol.91, 1989, p. 109
* Martin Kneser ''Max Deuring'', Jahresbericht DMV Vol.89, 1987, p. 135
* Martin Kneser, Martin Eichler ''Das wissenschaftliche Werk von Max Deuring'',
Acta Arithmetica
''Acta Arithmetica'' is a scientific journal of mathematics publishing papers on number theory. It was established in 1935 by Salomon Lubelski and Arnold Walfisz. The journal is published by the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sc ...
Vol.47, 1986, p. 187
See also
*
Deuring–Heilbronn phenomenon
*
Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture
In mathematics, the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture (often called the Birch–Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture) describes the set of rational solutions to equations defining an elliptic curve. It is an open problem in the field of number theory an ...
*
Supersingular elliptic curve In algebraic geometry, supersingular elliptic curves form a certain class of elliptic curves over a field of characteristic ''p'' > 0 with unusually large endomorphism rings. Elliptic curves over such fields which are not supersingular ar ...
References
External links
MacTutor biographyObituary in ''Acta Arithmetica''*
1907 births
1984 deaths
20th-century German mathematicians
Scientists from Göttingen
University of Göttingen alumni
University of Göttingen faculty
University of Marburg faculty
University of Hamburg faculty
Algebraic geometers
{{Germany-mathematician-stub