Werner Wolfgang Rogosinski FRS (24 September 1894 – 23 July 1964) was a German (later British) mathematician.

Life

Rogosinski was born in Breslau, into a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. His father, Hermann Rogosinski was Counsel in Wroclaw. Rogosinski studied at Mary Magdalen School from 1900 until 1913. He attended the

University of Breslau 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, th ...

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

and

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, with

Edmund Landau Edmund Georg Hermann Landau (14 February 1877 – 19 February 1938) was a German mathematician who worked in the fields of number theory and complex analysis. Biography Edmund Landau was born to a Jewish family in Berlin. His father was Leopold ...

. His studies were interrupted by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, in which Rogosinski served as a medic. Rogosinski focused his studies on

pure mathematics Pure mathematics is the study of mathematical concepts independently of any application outside mathematics. These concepts may originate in real-world concerns, and the results obtained may later turn out to be useful for practical applications, ...

, physics and philosophy. His interest was analytical problems, especially in series. His dissertation, "New Application of Pfeiffer's method for Dirichlet's divisor problem", caused a stir in 1922.

Career

In 1923, he first went to Koenigsberg as a lecturer, and became an associate professor in 1928. He worked with

Richard Brauer Richard Dagobert Brauer (February 10, 1901 – April 17, 1977) was a leading German and American mathematician. He worked mainly in abstract algebra, but made important contributions to number theory. He was the founder of modular represent ...

Gábor Szegő Gábor Szegő () (January 20, 1895 – August 7, 1985) was a Hungarian-American mathematician. He was one of the foremost mathematical analysts of his generation and made fundamental contributions to the theory of orthogonal polynomials and ...

and

Kurt Reidemeister Kurt Werner Friedrich Reidemeister (13 October 1893 – 8 July 1971) was a mathematician born in Braunschweig (Brunswick), Germany. Life He was a brother of Marie Neurath. Beginning in 1912, he studied in Freiburg, Munich, Marburg, and Götting ...

for five years. Rogosinski and Szegő families became friends. His first book ''Fouriersche Reihen'' was published in 1930. It provided a student's introduction to the

Fourier series A Fourier series () is a summation of harmonically related sinusoidal functions, also known as components or harmonics. The result of the summation is a periodic function whose functional form is determined by the choices of cycle length (or ''p ...

. The original was translated into English in 1950 and is still used. Rogosinski married in 1928 in Königsberg. In 1932, his son Peter was born. After the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

takeover, his fortunes changed. In 1936, his teaching credentials were withdrawn. He was allowed only in some Jewish schools in Berlin. The Cambridge professors

G. H. Hardy Godfrey Harold Hardy (7 February 1877 – 1 December 1947) was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. In biology, he is known for the Hardy–Weinberg principle, a basic principle of pop ...

and

John Edensor Littlewood John Edensor Littlewood (9 June 1885 – 6 September 1977) was a British mathematician. He worked on topics relating to analysis, number theory, and differential equations, and had lengthy collaborations with G. H. Hardy, Srinivasa Ramanu ...

invited him to come to the United Kingdom. He moved with his wife and child to Cambridge in 1937, with support from the

Society for the Protection of Science and Learning The Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA) is a charitable British organisation dedicated to assisting academics in immediate danger, those forced into exile, and many who choose to remain in their home countries despite the serious risks they face ...

. He published five papers with Hardy from 1943 to 1949, under the title ''Notes on Fourier series''. In 1944 Rogisinski and Hardy published their book ''Fourier Series'', which might be said to be a rewrite, using Lebesgue integral methods, of Rogosinski's 1930 book. He was a teacher in Aberdeen in 1941. In 1945, he became a lecturer at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

(prior to 1963, King's College,

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

). In 1947 he was appointed professor and in 1948 Head of Department. In 1959, Rogosinski resigned his position at Newcastle. Svend Bundgaard brought him into the Mathematical Institute at Aarhus. In 1954, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1962, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences. His intention was to go to the new

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

. He died after a long illness, aged 69, in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogosinski, Werner Wolfgang 1894 births 1964 deaths 20th-century German mathematicians Scientists from Wrocław Fellows of the Royal Society German Jewish military personnel of World War I People from the Province of Silesia 20th-century British mathematicians Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom