Rudolf Ernst Rothe (15 October 1873,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

– 26 October 1942, Berlin) was a German applied mathematician.

Biography

After graduating from the Sophien-Gymnasium in Berlin, Rothe studied from 1892 under

Hermann Amandus Schwarz Karl Hermann Amandus Schwarz (; 25 January 1843 – 30 November 1921) was a German mathematician, known for his work in complex analysis. Life Schwarz was born in Hermsdorf, Silesia (now Jerzmanowa, Poland). In 1868 he married Marie Kumme ...

, Johannes Knoblauch,

Lazarus Immanuel Fuchs Lazarus Immanuel Fuchs (5 May 1833 – 26 April 1902) was a Jewish-German mathematician who contributed important research in the field of linear differential equations. He was born in Moschin (Mosina) (located in Grand Duchy of Posen) and d ...

, and Ferdinand Georg Frobenius at the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

. There in 1897 he received his ''Promotion'' (Ph.D.) with dissertation ''Untersuchungen über die Theorie der isothermal Flächen'' (Investigations on the theory of isothermal surfaces) supervised by Schwarz. In 1905 Rothe completed his habilitation at the ''Technische Hochschule Berlin-Charlottenburg'' ( Technical University of Berlin). He was a professor from 1908 to 1914 at the

Clausthal University of Technology The Clausthal University of Technology (german: Technische Universität Clausthal, also referred to as TU Clausthal or TUC) is an institute of technology ('' Technische Universität'') in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Lower Saxony, Germany. The small publ ...

(TU Claustral) and from 1914 to 1915 at the ''Technische Hochschule Hanover'' ( University of Hanover), where he founded the Institute for Applied Mathematics. From 1915 he was a professor at the Technical University of Berlin, where he was rector in 1921. After retiring in 1939, he was an honorary senator of the Technical University of Berlin. His research deals with differential geometry and function theory. During WW I, he did research on ballistics and on determining the trajectories for the projectiles fired from the " Paris gun" (which in 1918 was fired at Paris from 120 kilometers away). In 1926 he was elected a member of the

German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...

. In 1930 he was president of the ''Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung''. From 1916 to 1918 and from 1939 to 1941 he was chair of the Berlin Mathematical Society, of which he was a founding member. After the death of Johannes Knoblauch, Rothe completed the editing and publishing of the collected works of

Karl Weierstrass Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass (german: link=no, Weierstraß ; 31 October 1815 – 19 February 1897) was a German mathematician often cited as the "father of modern analysis". Despite leaving university without a degree, he studied mathematics ...

. Rothe was co-editor with Felix Auerbach of the ''Taschenbuch für Mathematiker und Physiker'' (Pocket-sized book for mathematicians and physicists), published by ''

B. G. Teubner Verlag The Bibliotheca Teubneriana, or ''Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana'', also known as Teubner editions of Ancient Greek literature, Greek and Latin literature, Latin texts, comprise one of the most thorough modern Collecti ...

'' in 1911 and 1913 (and first published in 1909 by Auerbach alone).

Selected publications

''Untersuchungen über die Theorie der isothermen Flächen''
Dissertation, Mayer und Müller, Berlin 1897
''Untersuchungen über die geodätische Abbildung zweier Flächen konstanten Krümmungsmaßes aufeinander'' (Investigations into the geodetic mapping of two surfaces of constant curvature onto each other), Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik, vol. 132, 1907, p. 36''Anwendungen der Vektoranalysis auf die Differentialgeometrie'' (Applications of vector analysis to differential geometry), Jahresbericht DMV, vol. 21, 1912, p. 249

''Darstellende Geometrie des Geländes''
(Descriptive geometry of terrain), Mathematisch-Physikalische Bibliothek, Teubner 1914
''Elementarmathematik und Technik''
Teubner 1924 * ''Höhere Mathematik für Mathematiker, Physiker und Ingenieure'' (Higher mathematics for mathematicians, physicists and engineers), parts 1–6, Teubner, 1st published in 1925 (new edition in the 1960s, updated by István Szabó) * ''Funktionentheorie und ihre Anwendung in der Technik'' (Function theory and its application in technology), Springer 1931 (English translation, MIT Press 1933, Dover 1961) * ''Differentialgeometrie'', De Gruyter 1937 * mathematical section of the engineering, pocket-sized book ''Hütte'' for several years in the 1930s *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothe, Rudolf 1873 births 1942 deaths 19th-century German mathematicians 20th-century German mathematicians Ballistics experts Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Academic staff of the Technical University of Berlin Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina