Wilhelm Ahrens (3 March 1872 – 23 May 1927) 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 ...

and writer on

recreational mathematics Recreational mathematics is mathematics carried out for recreation (entertainment) rather than as a strictly research and application-based professional activity or as a part of a student's formal education. Although it is not necessarily limited ...

Biography

Ahrens was born in

Lübz Lübz is a town in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It is situated on the river Elde, 12 km northeast of Parchim. It is home to the Mecklenburgische Brauerei Lübz, the largest local employer and on ...

at the

Elde The Elde () is a river in northern Germany (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and a few km in Brandenburg), a right tributary of the Elbe. Its total length is . The Elde originates near Altenhof, south of Malchow. It first flows southeast towards the southe ...

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...

and studied from 1890 to 1897 at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...

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 o ...

, and the

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 ...

. In 1895 at the University of Rostock he received his

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(Ph.D.), ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'', under the supervision of

Otto Staude Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', '' Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded f ...

with dissertation entitled ''Über eine Gattung n-fach periodischer Functionen von n reellen Veränderlichen''. From 1895 to 1896 he taught at the German school in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

and then studied another semester under

Sophus Lie Marius Sophus Lie ( ; ; 17 December 1842 – 18 February 1899) was a Norwegian mathematician. He largely created the theory of continuous symmetry and applied it to the study of geometry and differential equations. Life and career Marius Sophu ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

. In 1897 Ahrens was a teacher in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

at the Baugewerkeschule, from 1901 at the engineering school. Inspired by Sophus Lie, he wrote "On transformation groups, all of whose subgroups are invariant" (''Hamburger Math Society'' Vol 4, 1902). He worked a lot on the history of mathematics and mathematical games (recreational mathematics), about which he wrote a great work and also contributed to the ''Encyclopedia of mathematical sciences'' His predecessors were the great

Jacques Ozanam Jacques Ozanam (16 June 1640, in Sainte-Olive, Ain – 3 April 1718, in Paris) was a French mathematician. Biography Jacques Ozanam was born in Sainte-Olive, Ain, France. In 1670, he published trigonometric and logarithmic tables more accura ...

in France, where the number theorist

Édouard Lucas __NOTOC__ François Édouard Anatole Lucas (; 4 April 1842 – 3 October 1891) was a French mathematician. Lucas is known for his study of the Fibonacci sequence. The related Lucas sequences and Lucas numbers are named after him. Biography Lucas ...

(1842–1891) in the 19th century wrote similar books, and

Walter William Rouse Ball Walter William Rouse Ball (14 August 1850 – 4 April 1925), known as W. W. Rouse Ball, was a British mathematician, lawyer, and fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1878 to 1905. He was also a keen amateur magician, and the founding ...

(1850–1925) in England (''Mathematical recreations and essays'' 1892),

Sam Loyd Samuel Loyd (January 30, 1841 – April 10, 1911), was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematics, recreational mathematician. Loyd was born in Philadelphia but raised in New York City. As a chess com ...

(1841–1901) in the U.S. and

Henry Dudeney Henry Ernest Dudeney (10 April 1857 – 23 April 1930) was an English author and mathematician who specialised in logic puzzles and mathematical games. He is known as one of the country's foremost creators of mathematical puzzles. Early life ...

(1857–1930) in England. In this sense

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...

(1914-2010) and Ian Stewart, the editor of the math column in ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

'', might be regarded as his successors. He also wrote a book of quotations and anecdotes about mathematicians. He was the author of numerous journal articles.

''Scherz und Ernst in der Mathematik''

According to R. C. Archibald:

Bibliography

* ''Mathematische Unterhaltungen und Spiele'' athematical Recreations and Games 1901 * ''Mathematische Spiele'' athematical Games 1902 * ''Scherz und Ernst in der Mathematik; geflügelte und ungeflügelte Worte'' un and seriousness in mathematics: well-known and less well-known words 1904.
2002 Auflage
* ''Gelehrten-Anekdoten'' cholarly anecdotes 1911 * ''Mathematiker-Anekdoten'' necdotes of Mathematicians 1916
Zweite, stark veränderte Auflage (2nd revised edition) 1920
ref>

References

External links

*
Wilhelm Ernst Martin Georg Ahrens at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
1872 births 1927 deaths People from Lübz People from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 19th-century German mathematicians Recreational mathematicians Mathematics popularizers 20th-century German mathematicians {{Authority control