Person: Feigl, Georg
Georg Feigl was a German mathematician who worked in the foundations of geometry and topology.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- In 1919 Feigl became a budgeted assistant of Schmidt at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Berlin.
- Feigl's later research and teaching were both greatly influenced by Schmidt.
- In 1925 Feigl became managing editor of the journal Jahrbuchs über die Fortschritte der Mathematik Ⓣ(Yearbook on the progress of mathematics), the only reviewing journal at that time, which was produced in Berlin by the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
- Promotion at Berlin came steadily for Feigl who was promoted in 1927 and then again to extraordinary professor in 1933.
- Two years later, in 1935, Feigl was appointed to the Chair of Mathematics at the University of Breslau where he was head of the Department.
- Feigl wrote to several of his colleagues on 30 May 1935 asking for their cooperation in setting up a new mathematics journal, the Neue Deutsche Forschungen.
- Feigl wanted Süss from Freiburg, Hamel from Berlin, Koebe from Leipzig, Kowalewski from Dresden and Tornier from Göttingen to cooperate within the Mathematics Department of the Reich Research Council and help him identify doctoral dissertations which would be suitable for publication.
- Feigl explained in his letter to Süss, written on 30 May, that he was embarrassed by the fact that Compositio Mathematica was publishing so many works by non-Aryans.
- In 1941 Feigl was elected onto the Executive Committee of the German Mathematical Society.
- Although he had accepted the direction that the Nazis had taken Germany, Feigl was strongly opposed to Hitler and his regime so became increasingly alarmed when fellow mathematicians were arrested by the Gestapo.
- In February 1944 Feigl had been ordered to report for active duty in the German army as an anti-aircraft gunner.
- At this time Feigl was working with Schmidt on a book on differential and integral calculus.
- Feigl had been lecturing on this topic and his lectures were used as the basis for the book on which they worked.
- In February Feigl and his colleagues moved the Mathematical Institute from Breslau to Schönburg Castle at Wechselburg, not far from Leipzig.
- However, Feigl had required constant medication all through his life for his stomach condition and, not being able to obtain his medication at Wechselburg led to his death within a couple of months.
- Feigl worked on geometry, in particular the foundations of geometry and topology.
Born 13 October 1890, Hamburg, Germany. Died 25 April 1945, Wechselburg, Sachsen, Germany.
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Origin Germany
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- @J-J-O'Connor
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References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
