Hermann Lorenz Künneth (July 6, 1892
Neustadt an der Haardt – May 7, 1975
Erlangen
Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...
)
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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
and renowned
algebraic topologist, best known for his contribution to what is now known as the
Künneth theorem.
In the winter semester 1910/11, Künneth joined the students' fraternity “Studentengesangverein Erlangen“, now “
Akademisch-Musikalische Verbindung Fridericiana Erlangen“ (“Students' Choral Society Erlangen“, now “Akademic Musical Fraternity Fridericiana Erlangen“). He carried out a variety of posts during his studies as well as after having left university in 1914.
He participated in the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and was captured by British forces.
His 1922 doctoral thesis at the
University of Erlangen was titled ''Über die
Bettischen Zahlen einer
Produktmannigfaltigkeit'' (“On the Betti numbers of a product manifold”), it was supervised by
Heinrich Franz Friedrich Tietze.
From 1923, he was a teacher at secondary schools in Kronach and Erlangen. After retiring, he became professor at the
University of Erlangen.
In 1964, he was decorated with the
Bundesverdienstkreuz, the highest German decoration.
References
Künneth, Hermann Lorenz
'' – ''Kurzbiographien'' (short biographies) of the German Mathematical Society
Literature
*
Haupt, Otto: “Hermann Künneth zum Gedenken”, ''Jahresbericht der
Deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung'', 78 (1976) pp. 61–66
online
* Haas, Karl Eduard: “Die Akademisch-Musikalische Verbindung Fridericiana im Sondershäuser Verband“, Erlangen 1982, p. 295
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunneth, Hermann
1892 births
1975 deaths
20th-century German mathematicians
German topologists
German military personnel of World War I
People from Neustadt an der Weinstraße
People from the Palatinate (region)
Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany