Person: Doeblin, Wolfgang

Wolfgang Doeblin was a German born French mathematician who made important advances in probability theory.

Fortunately, for Doeblin, this influence has been visible and is still continuing.
Considering Doeblin's short career, it is remarkable that he published 13 papers and 13 contributions to Comptes Rendus; for bibliographies, cf.
The importance of these is to a large extent due to Doeblin's emphasis on path methods rather than analytical ones; much of what is standard approaches today stem from him.
In Doeblin's mine of ideas, the coupling method was paid attention to by very few until the early 1970s; then the time was ripe to explore it, and the method is now a major tool in probability theory, with applications ranging from elementary theory to front research.
This type of process were the main interest in the last phase of Doeblin's mathematical career, interrupted by World War II; the spare time he had as a soldier was spent on this.
Doeblin's life and fate are remarkable and gripping.
Wolfgang stayed until May to finish school.
Doeblin immediately made a strong impression in Paris; Fréchet was his adviser, but Doeblin also got in touch with Paul Lévy, with whom he wrote his first note.
In February 1940, the Nazi invasion was expected to come in the spring to follow, and Doeblin decided to file his work on diffusions at the Académie des Sciences in Paris.
Housseras is located some 100 kilometres from Sarreguemines (French after World War I), the place where Doeblin had spent the first three years of his life.

Born 17 March 1915, Berlin, Germany. Died 21 June 1940, Housseras, France.

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Origin Germany

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