- Friedrich Wilhelm Levi
Friedrich Wilhelm Daniel Levi (
February 6 ,1888 -January 1 ,1966 ) was a Germanmathematician known for his work inabstract algebra . He also worked ingeometry ,topology ,set theory , and analysis. According toLaszlo Fuchs andRüduger Göbel , he is generally viewed as the father of mathematics inIndia .Levi was born to Georg Levi and Emma Blum in
Mulhouse inAlsace-Lorraine , then part of theGerman Empire . He received his Ph.D. in 1911 underHeinrich Weber . He served his mandatory military service in the German Army in 1906-1907, and was called up again in 1914-1918 duringWorld War I . He was discharged as a lieutenant. In 1917, he married Barbara Fitting, with whom he eventually had three children (Paul, Charlotte, Suzanne). He taught at theUniversity of Leipzig between 1920 and 1935, when the Nazi government fired him because of his Jewish ancestry. In 1935 he accepted an offer as head of the Mathematics Department at theUniversity of Calcutta . His mother and a sister remained in Germany and died inthe Holocaust .In 1948, Levi became professor of mathematics at
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research inMumbai ,India . In 1952, he returned to Germany and was a professor at theFree University of Berlin and laterUniversity of Freiburg . He died in Freiburg.References
"Abelian Groups", vol. 146 in the series "Lecture Notes in Pure and Applied Mathematics". Chapter 1, "Friedrich Wilhelm Levi, 1888-1966", by Laszlo Fuchs and Rüduger Göbel, pp. 1-14.
External links
* [http://www.b.shuttle.de/b/pns/faecher/mathematik/Verfolgte/levi.html Friedrich Levi site] de icon
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