Person: Kaluza, Theodor Franz Eduard

Theodor Kaluza was a German mathematician and physicist known for his work in five-dimensional space-time.

Max Kaluza was a fine scholar and, although German, he was a leading expert on the English language and English literature, with his special field being the study of Chaucer.
Kaluza continued his studies at Königsberg working towards his doctorate under Meyer's supervision.
Most academics are promoted after a few years as a Privatdozent, but Kaluza clearly was not thought to be of sufficient merit for he remained a Privatdozent for 20 years.
One person who thought very highly of Kaluza, however, was Einstein.
Kaluza's ideas involved the introduction of a fifth dimension and, although he has been criticised for introducing this as a purely mathematical idea, his work is important and was explored by others.
Kaluza is remembered for this in Kaluza-Klein (named after the mathematician Oskar Klein) field theory, which involved field equations in five-dimensional space.
In November 1926 Einstein wrote in support of Kaluza to try to impress upon people that he was a mathematician who had produced a remarkably novel idea and was worth far more than the position of Privatdozent which he still occupied.
Still Kaluza failed to gain promotion, then in 1929, exactly 20 years after being appointed a Privatdozent, he was appointed as professor in Kiel.
Perhaps Kaluza became too involved with his ideas in theoretical physics to make the contributions to mathematics which he was clearly capable of making.

Born 9 November 1885, Opeln, Germany (now Opole, Poland). Died 19 January 1954, Göttingen, Germany.

View full biography at MacTutor

Origin Poland

Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0!

O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive