![Walter Benz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Walter_Benz.jpeg)
Walter Benz (May 2, 1931
Lahnstein
Lahnstein () is a ''verband''-free town of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated at the confluence of the Lahn with the Rhine, approximately south of Koblenz. Lahnstein was created in 1969 by the merger of the previou ...
– January 13, 2017
Ratzeburg
Ratzeburg (; Low German: ''Ratzborg'') is a town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is surrounded by four lakes—the resulting isthmuses between the lakes form the access lanes to the town. Ratzeburg is the capital of the district Herzogtum Lau ...
) 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 ...
, an expert in
geometry
Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...
.
Benz studied at the
Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz
The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approximately 32,000 stu ...
and received his
doctoral degree
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
in 1954, with Robert Furch as his advisor.
After a position at the
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main
Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...
, he served as a professor at
Ruhr University Bochum
The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...
,
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario
Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...
, and
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...
. Benz was honoured with the degree of a
Dr. h.c.
Based on his book ''Vorlesungen über Geometrie der Algebren'' (
Springer
Springer or springers may refer to:
Publishers
* Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag.
** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...
1973), certain geometric objects are called
Benz plane
In mathematics, a Benz plane is a type of 2-dimensional geometrical structure, named after the German mathematician Walter Benz. The term was applied to a group of objects that arise from a common axiomatization of certain structures and split ...
s.
Inner product space
In mathematics, an inner product space (or, rarely, a Hausdorff pre-Hilbert space) is a real vector space or a complex vector space with an operation called an inner product. The inner product of two vectors in the space is a scalar, often den ...
s over the
real number
In mathematics, a real number is a number that can be used to measure a ''continuous'' one-dimensional quantity such as a distance, duration or temperature. Here, ''continuous'' means that values can have arbitrarily small variations. Every real ...
s provide the basis of a 2007 book by Benz: ''Classical Geometries in Modern Contexts''.
[W. Benz (2007) ''Classical Geometries in Modern Contexts: Geometry of Real Inner Product Spaces'', ]Birkhäuser
Birkhäuser was a Swiss publisher founded in 1879 by Emil Birkhäuser. It was acquired by Springer Science+Business Media in 1985. Today it is an imprint used by two companies in unrelated fields:
* Springer continues to publish science (particu ...
,
See also
*
List of University of Waterloo people
The University of Waterloo, located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, is a comprehensive public university that was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles. It has grown into an institution of more than 42,000 students, faculty, and ...
References
* Uta Hartmann (2009) "Walter Benz — 'Die Mathematik war mein Leben, ist mein Leben' ", ''Journal of Geometry'' 93:83–115.
External links
Personal web siteOberwolfach Photo Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benz, Walter
1931 births
2017 deaths
20th-century German mathematicians
Geometers
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni
University of Waterloo faculty
Academic staff of the University of Hamburg
Academic staff of Ruhr University Bochum