Hanna Neumann

Hanna Neumann

Born: 12 Feb 1914 in Berlin, Germany
Died: 14 Nov 1971 in Ottawa, Canada

Previous (Chronologically) Next     Biographies Index

Previous ( Alphabetically) Next          Welcome page
Hanna Neumann's maiden name was Caemmerer. She attended Berlin University and there she was taught analytic and projective geometry by Bieberbach, differential and integral calculus by Schmidt and number theory by Schur.

Bieberbach was an inspiring, if unorganised, lecturer and Hanna almost became a geometer. However after the Zazi's came to power in 1933 Hanna became unhappy. She left Berlin University in 1934 to marry Bernhard Neumann. As Bernhard was a Jew, they were forced to leave Germany in 1938. They settled in England.

Hanna taught at Hull, then UMIST in Manchester until 1963. The year 1961-62 she spent with Bernard at the Courant Institute in New York. While they were in New York the invitation arrived for both of them to set up mathematics at the Australian National University. In 1963 Hanna and Bernard went to Australia where she was to spend the rest of her career.

In 1971 she undertook a lecture tour of Canada. After lecturing in a number of universities Hanna reached Carleton University, Ottawa. There she took ill and died two days later.

Like her husband, Hanna worked in group theory. Her thesis examined free products with amalgamation. Later she worked on varieties of groups and her book Varieties of Groups (1967) is a classic.

A letter from two of her students, published after her death, shows her character:

We will remember her not only as a mathematician, she was a friend who always had a sympathetic ear for any student, and was never too busy. We will always miss her tremendous dedication and sincerity, and the friendliness of her presence.

References:

  1. G Higman, Hanna Neumann, Bull. London Math. Soc. 6 (1974), 99-100.
  2. M F Newman and G E Wall, Hanna Neumann, J. Australian Math. Soc. 17 (1974), 1-28.
  3. L S Grinstein and P J Campbell (eds.), Women of Mathematics (Westport, Conn., 1987), 156-160. 
Previous (Chronologically) Next     Biographies Index

Previous ( Alphabetically) Next          Welcome page

History Topics Index              Famous curves index

Chronologies                           Birthplace Map

Mathematicians of the day  Anniversaries for the year

Search Form   Simple Search Form   Search Suggestions
JOC/EFR May 1996