Courant

Richard Courant

Born: 8 Jan 1888 in Lublinitz, Prussia (now Lubliniec, Poland)
Died: 27 Jan 1972 in New Rochelle, New York, USA

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Courant obtained his doctorate from Göttingen in 1910 under Hilbert's supervision. He taught mathematics at Göttingen, where he was Klein's successor, until the start of World War I. A few years after the war, Courant returned to Göttingen, where he founded the university's Mathematics Institute. From 1920 until 1933 he was director of the Mathematics Institute.

His most important work was in mathematical physics. In 1924 he published, jointly with Hilbert, an important text Methoden der mathematischen Physik . He left for England in 1933, going to New York University the following year. He built up an applied mathematics research centre in New York based on the Göttingen style, making many new appointments such as Friedrichs.

References:

  1. Biography in Encyclopaedia Britannica
  2. C Reid, Courant in Göttingen and New York : the story of an improbable mathematician ( New York, 1976).
  3. C Reid, Hilbert-Courant ( New York, 1986).
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JOC/EFR February 1996