Mathematicians under the Nazis

Description

Contrary to popular belief--and despite the expulsion, emigration, or death of many German mathematicians--substantial mathematics was produced in Germany during 1933-1945. In this landmark social history of the mathematics community in Nazi Germany, Sanford Segal examines how the Nazi years affected the personal and academic lives of those German

Sanford L. Segal is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Rochester and the author of Nine Introductions in Complex Analysis.

"The strength of the book lies in its many individual stories and case histories... [It] offer[s] disturbing and important accounts of the life of science and scientists under the Nazis."--The Economist "The remarkable feature of this book is that in spite of the temptation, the story-telling never succumbs to simplistic descriptions of events or people. The analysis avoids the sentimentality and moral superiority that so often accompany descriptions of the Nazi years... Perhaps this is why Mathematicians under the Nazis is so compelling... This is a perceptive analysis of an important era and well worth reading."--John H. Ewing, Mathematical Reviews "A fascinating, well-researched and richly footnoted account of what occurred within a scientific discipline during the Nazi period."--George G. Szpiro, The Jerusalem Report