Robert Max Friedrich Sauer (16 September 1898 – 22 August 1970) was a German mathematician. He was rector of the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

from 1954 to 1956 and president of the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowled ...

from 1964 to 1970.

Early life

After graduating from high school in Bamberg and completing his military service in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as a non-commissioned officer in the artillery, Sauer studied mathematics and

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which rel ...

at the

from 1919. In 1925 he received his doctorate.

Career

After his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...

in 1926 he taught at the university as lecturer for descriptive geometry. In 1932 he became associate professor and in 1937 full professor of applied mathematics and descriptive geometry at the

TH Aachen RWTH Aachen University (), also known as North Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Rhine-Westphalia Technical University of Aachen, Technical University of Aachen, University of Aachen, or ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hoch ...

. During this time, Sauer joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

and became involved in the National Socialist German Lecturers League. Sauer was appointed dean, in part because of his party affiliation. During

World War II 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 ...

he worked on ballistics and supersonic gas dynamics, constructing analog computers to solve the differential equations involved. He was intensively supported by his friend, the mathematician Franz Krauß, who also taught in Aachen. These calculations were related to the calculation of the trajectories of V-1 and V-2 rockets sent to London. In 1944, he became a professor at the TH Karlsruhe. After the end of the war, he was removed from office by the US occupying forces. In return, the French made him an offer to work for the French government in ballistic research. Sauer was soon also employed by the U.S. government in the field of ballistic research. In 1948, he became a professor at the

and director of the Mathematical Institute - especially at the instigation of his friend Josef Lense. From 1954 to 1956, he was rector of university. In 1950, he became a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and was its president from 1964 to 1970. It endowed the Robert Sauer Prize in his honor. In 1962, he was elected a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauer, Robert 1970 deaths 1898 births Nazi Party members Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences Academic staff of the Technical University of Munich Presidents of the Technical University of Munich Academic staff of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology Academic staff of RWTH Aachen University Ballistics experts 20th-century German mathematicians