Wilhelm Süss Explained

Wilhelm Süss
Birth Date:7 March 1895
Birth Place:Frankfurt, German Empire
Death Place:Freiburg im Breisgau, West Germany
Workplaces:University of Greifswald
University of Freiburg
Education:Goethe University Frankfurt
Thesis Title:Begründung der Inhaltslehre im Raum ohne Benutzung von Stetigkeitsaxiomen
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Thesis Year:1922
Doctoral Advisor:Ludwig Bieberbach
Known For:Founder of the Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics
Spouse:Irmgard Deckert
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Wilhelm Süss (7 March 1895 – 21 May 1958) was a German mathematician. He was founder and first director of the Oberwolfach Research Institute for Mathematics.

Biography

He was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and died in Freiburg im Breisgau, West Germany.

Süss earned a Ph.D. degree in 1922 from Goethe University Frankfurt, for a thesis written under the direction of Ludwig Bieberbach. In 1928, he took a lecturing position at the University of Greifswald, and in 1934 he became a Professor at the University of Freiburg.

Wilhelm Süss was a member of the Nazi Party and the National Socialist German Lecturers League; he joined Stahlhelm to avoid being automatically enrolled in Sturmabteilung but later he, with all Stahlhelm members, became members of Sturmabteilung. The extent to which he worked with Nazis or only cooperated as little as possible is a matter of debate among historians.[1] [2] [3]

In 1936 - 1940, he was an editor of the journal Deutsche Mathematik.

Notes and References

  1. S L Segal, Mathematicians under the Nazis (Princeton, NJ, 2003).
  2. V R Remmert, Mathematicians at war. Power struggles in Nazi Germany's mathematical community : Gustav Doetsch and Wilhelm Süss, Rev. Histoire Math. 5 (1) (1999), 7-59.
  3. V R Remmert, Griff aus dem Elfenbeinturm. Mathematik, Macht und Nationalsozialismus : das Beispiel Freiburg, Mitt. Dtsch. Math.-Ver. (3) (1999), 13-24.