Rolf-Rüdiger Thiele (born 29 April 1943) is a German mathematician and historian of mathematics, known for his historical research on Hilbert's twenty-fourth problem.

Early life, family and education

Rolf-Rüdiger Thiele was born in Polepp,

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

(now part of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

). Thiele studied mathematics, physics, and psychology at the

Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public university, public research university in the cities of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German State o ...

and received his

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

(Ph.D.) there in 1973.

Career

Thiele worked in the publishing business in Leipzig for

B. G. Teubner Verlag The Bibliotheca Teubneriana, or ''Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana'', also known as Teubner editions of Greek and Latin texts, comprise one of the most thorough modern collections published of ancient (and some medieval) ...

and Salomon Hirzel Verlag. From 1986 to 2008, he worked at the

Karl Sudhoff Karl Sudhoff (26 November 1853, Frankfurt am Main – 8 October 1938, Salzwedel) was a German historian of medicine, who founded the first institute for the history of medicine in the world. Sudhoff taught for years at the University of Leipzig, ...

Institute for the History of Medicine and Natural Sciences at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. He has held visiting positions at the

Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

(from 1992 to 1995 as chair for the history of natural sciences), at

TU Darmstadt Tu or TU may refer to: Language * Tu language * Tu (cuneiform), a cuneiform sign * ''tu'' or ''tú'' the 2nd-person singular subject pronoun in many languages; see personal pronoun * T–V distinction (from the Latin pronouns ''tu'' and ''vos'') ...

, at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

(from 1995 to 1996), and at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. In 2001, Thiele

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...

in the department of mathematics at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

with his work ''Von der Bernoullischen Brachistochrone zum Kalibratorkonzept'' (From the Bernoullian brachistochrone to the calibrator concept). His habilitation thesis was published in the series ''Collection de travaux de l'Académie internationale d'Histoire des Sciences '', Brepols Verlag,

Turnhout Turnhout () is a Belgium, Belgian Municipalities in Belgium, municipality and city located in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of Antwerp (province), Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. ...

. In 2002, he became a

privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

in the department of mathematics at the University of Leipzig. In 2004, he was awarded the

Lester R. Ford Award ''The American Mathematical Monthly'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of mathematics. It was established by Benjamin Finkel in 1894 and is published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Mathematical Association of America. It is an expositor ...

of the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary edu ...

for his expository article on Hilbert's cancelled 24th problem. He discovered the 24th problem in an unpublished notebook among Hilbert's ''

Nachlass ''Nachlass'' (, older spelling ''Nachlaß'') is a German language, German word, used in academia to describe the collection of manuscripts, notes, correspondence, and so on left behind when a scholar dies. The word is a compound word, compound in ...

''. He has been the vice president of the

Euler Society The Euler Society is an American group that is dedicated to the examination of the life and work of Leonhard Euler. Its first meeting was August 2002, organized after several enthusiasts met at the 2001 Joint Mathematics Meeting The Joint Mathe ...

. His most important works deal with the biographies of

Leonhard Euler Leonhard Euler ( ; ; ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss polymath who was active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, logician, geographer, and engineer. He founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made influential ...

Bartel Leendert van der Waerden Bartel Leendert van der Waerden (; 2 February 1903 – 12 January 1996) was a Dutch mathematician and historian of mathematics. Biography Education and early career Van der Waerden learned advanced mathematics at the University of Amste ...

David Hilbert David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician and philosopher of mathematics and one of the most influential mathematicians of his time. Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental idea ...

Felix Klein Felix Christian Klein (; ; 25 April 1849 – 22 June 1925) was a German mathematician and Mathematics education, mathematics educator, known for his work in group theory, complex analysis, non-Euclidean geometry, and the associations betwe ...

. Central topics in his historical research are analysis and the

calculus of variations The calculus of variations (or variational calculus) is a field of mathematical analysis that uses variations, which are small changes in Function (mathematics), functions and functional (mathematics), functionals, to find maxima and minima of f ...

. In his writings, Thiele uses numerous previously unpublished sources. In addition to numerous book publications and specialist articles on various questions in the history of mathematics, he has published several books on mathematical games in recreational mathematics (often in collaboration with Konrad Haase).

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * * ''Von der Bernoullischen Brachistochrone zum Kalibrator-Konzept: ein historischer Abriß zur Entstehung der Feldtheorie in der Variationsrechnung''.

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

. Turnhout, Brepols 2007. * With Konrad Haase: ** ** * *

Sources

* ''Kürschners Deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender 1992'' * ''Marquis Who's Who in the World''

References

External links

Bibliographie Rüdiger Thiele
(as of January 2012)
entry in: ''Vademekum der Geschichtswissenschaften 2006/2007'', p. 628.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thiele, Ruediger 20th-century German mathematicians 21st-century German mathematicians German historians of mathematics Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg alumni Academic staff of Leipzig University 1943 births Living people Academic staff of the University of Hamburg