6533b85dfe1ef96bd12bf103

RESEARCH PRODUCT

“The First Mathematically Serious German School of Applied Mathematics”?

subject

description

This chapter is about the famous German-Austrian applied mathematician Richard von Mises (1883–1953) and his school in Berlin in the 1920s. The paper focuses on his interactions and controversies with mathematicians at the Technische Hochschule (Higher Technical College) in Berlin, in particular Georg Hamel and Rudolf Rothe, who claimed priority for their institution in the training of applied mathematicians. Von Mises emphasized the special place and characteristics of his Institute for Applied mathematics at the classical University of Berlin between pure mathematics, engineering, and industry. In the appendix of the paper the main stipulations of the “Mathematical practical course (Praktikum)” of von Mises’ institute are reproduced. The paper also draws some comparison and describes some competition between the Gottingen and the Berlin schools of applied mathematics discussing a controversial quote by A. Ostrowski (1966) which describes the Berlin school of applied mathematics as “the first mathematically serious.”