0000000000278654
AUTHOR
Rolf Nossum
The Society for the Protection of Science and Learning as a patron of refugee mathematicians
The Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL, which started out as the Academic Assistance Council (AAC) 1933–36) distinguished itself from many other aid organizations set up in response to Nazi policies towards Jews and political dissidents in its focus on academic excellence as a criterion for support. Its archives are deposited in the Bodleian Library. Today, the organization is known as the Council for At-Risk Academics (CARA, http://www.cara1933.org/).In the archives of the SPSL, there are files on two and a half thousand scientists, victims of persecution in their home countries, who appealed to the Society for assistance in finding refuge and work in Britain. Almost …
Persecution and Patronage: Oscar Buneman’s years in Britain
The German student Oscar Bunemann, in trouble with the Nazi authorities in the mid-1930s, chose to emigrate to Britain and pursue a PhD there. After emigration, his surname appears as Buneman. On the verge of completing his degree in 1940, he was detained as an enemy alien and spent almost a year in internment. Upon release, he found work as an atomic scientist in England, and went on to lead a post-war career as a pioneering plasma physicist in the USA.We study forced migration of European scientists before and during the Second World War, and scientific patronage in the host countries. Buneman’s case is interesting from several points of view. Being a non-Jewish, non-communist, anti-Nazi …
A decidable multi-modal logic of context
We give a logic for formulas Á¡± Ã, with the informal reading ”à is true in the context described by Á”. These are interpreted as binary modalities, by quantification over an enumerable set of unary modalities c¡± Ã, meaning ”à is true in context c”. The logic allows arbitrary nesting of contexts. A corresponding axiomatic presentation is given, and proven to be decidable, sound, and complete. Previously, quantificational logic of context restricted the nesting of contexts, and was only known to be decidable in very special cases.
A uniform quantificational logic for algebraic notions ofcontext
A quantificational framework of formal reasoning is proposed, which emphasises the pattern of entering and exiting context. Contexts are modelled by an algebraic structure which reflects the order and manner in which context is entered into and exited from. The equations of the algebra partitions context terms into equivalence classes. A formal semantics is defined, containing models that map equivalence classes of certain context terms to sets of first order structures. The corresponding Hilbert system incorporates the algebraic equations as axioms asserted in context. In this way a uniform logic for arbitrary algebras of context is obtained. Soundness and completeness are proved. In semig…
A letter from Malevich to Semevsky about Kovalevskaya
Abstract The biographical literature on Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya has to a large extent relied on her own memoirs, published in Vestnik Evropy only months before her death, and an autobiographical story published posthumously in Russkaya Starina. In this paper we present and discuss the full Russian text with English translation of a letter, previously unpublished, from Kovalevskaya's teacher in childhood and adolescence, Iosif Ignatyevich Malevich, to the editor of Russkaya Starina, Mikhail Ivanovich Semevsky, in which he repudiates her depreciation of his role in her schooling, criticizes her self-portrayal, and provides information about her early education which runs counter to part…
Emigration of mathematicians from outside German-speaking academia 1933-1963, supported by the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning
Author's version of an article published in the journal: Historia Mathematica. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hm.2011.08.002 Racial and political persecution of German-speaking scholars from 1933 onward has already been extensively studied. The archives of the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL), which are deposited in the Western Manuscripts Collection at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, is a rich source of information about the emigration of European scientists, also those who did not come from German-speaking institutions. This is an account of the support given by the SPSL to the persecuted mathematicians among them. The challenges…
A framework for data integration of offshore wind farms
Abstract Operation and maintenance play an important role in maximizing the yield and minimizing the downtime of wind turbines, especially offshore wind farms where access can be difficult due to harsh weather conditions for long periods. It contributes up to 25–30% to the cost of energy generation. Improved operation and maintenance (O&M) practices are likely to reduce the cost of wind energy and increase safety. In order to optimize the O&M, the importance of data exchange and knowledge sharing within the offshore wind industry must be realized. With more data available, it is possible to make better decisions, and thereby improve the recovery rates and reduce the operational costs. This …
Smart grid for offshore wind farms: Towards an information model based on the IEC 61400-25 standard
Nowadays, wind energy is one of the most recognized renewable energy sources. Onshore wind farms have been built in many countries, such as Denmark, Norway, UK, Italy, Brazil and the US. To utilize the more stable wind resources, wind farms have moved off the shore, first to shallow waters near shore and now extending to deeper waters and far off the shore. Deep-water offshore solutions will give access to large areas with high wind, and less sensitivity to noise, visual impacts and size. However, the cost of developing and operating an offshore wind farm is many times larger than onshore due to large water depths and harsh offshore environments. Hence, the needs for fast and automatic data…