Walter Knödel (May 20, 1926 – October 19, 2018) was an Austrian

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

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

. He was a computer science professor at the University of Stuttgart. Born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Walter Knödel studied mathematics and physics at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. Also in Vienna, Knödel received his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1948 for his work on

number theory Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic functions. Number theorists study prime numbers as well as the properties of mathematical objects constructed from integers (for example ...

under the direction of Edmund Hlawka and got habilitated in 1953. In 1961, Walter Knödel became professor for mathematics at the University of Stuttgart. Walter Knödel authored a number of books and scientific publications. He wrote the first German textbook on

computer programming Computer programming or coding is the composition of sequences of instructions, called computer program, programs, that computers can follow to perform tasks. It involves designing and implementing algorithms, step-by-step specifications of proc ...

in 1961. He was the founding dean of the faculty for computer science at the University of Stuttgart and founding member of the German Computer Society the Gesellschaft für Informatik. The Knödel numbers became named after Walter Knödel. He died in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

on October 19, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knodel, Walter 20th-century Austrian mathematicians Academic staff of the University of Stuttgart 1926 births 2018 deaths University of Vienna alumni Austrian expatriates in Germany Scientists from Vienna