Robert Edouard Moritz (2 Jun 1868 – 28 Dec 1940) 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 **Ger ...

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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 published about 75 books and papers. For over 30 years he was head of the mathematics department at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Biography

Moritz was born in

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

to Karl R. and Maria Stahlhut Moritz, and emigrated to the United States at the age of twelve where the family settled on a farm in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

. From 1885 to 1892 he attended

Hastings College Hastings College is a private Presbyterian college in Hastings, Nebraska. History The college was founded in 1882 by a group of men and women seeking to establish a Presbyterian college dedicated to high academic and cultural standards. Ha ...

in Hastings, Nebraska, and then studied another year at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. After two summer quarters in the next years he received his MA in mathematics in 1896.R.M. Winger,
Robert Edouard Moritz—In memoriam
" ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' 47.3 (1941): 188-190. In 1893 he started his academic career as assistant professor in mathematics and physics back at

. In 1898 he moved to the

University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, where he was appointed instructor in mathematics, and obtained his PhD in 1901. The next year he studied in Europe under

Heinrich Martin Weber Heinrich Martin Weber (5 March 1842, Heidelberg, Germany – 17 May 1913, Straßburg, Alsace-Lorraine, German Empire, now Strasbourg, France) was a German mathematician. Weber's main work was in algebra, number theory, and analysis. He is ...

and

Theodor Reye Karl Theodor Reye (born 20 June 1838 in Ritzebüttel, Germany and died 2 July 1919 in Würzburg, Germany) was a German mathematician. He contributed to geometry, particularly projective geometry and synthetic geometry. He is best known for his ...

, obtaining a second PhD at the

University of Strassburg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

in 1902. Back in the United States he worked two years at the University of Nebraska, before moving to the

where he was appointed professor and head of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy. He died in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in the state of Washington in 1940 at the age of 72.

Publications by Moritz, a selection

* ''Plane and Spherical Trigonometry.'' John Wiley and Sons, 1911
1913.
*
On Mathematics and Mathematicians
'' Macmillan 1914, 1942, 1958; also published as
Memorabilia Mathematica; Or, The Philomath's Quotation-book
', Macmillan 1914. * ''A Short Course in College Mathematics,'' Macmillan, 1919
1920.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moritz, Robert Edouard 19th-century German mathematicians 19th-century American mathematicians 1868 births 1940 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States