Max Dehn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | November 13, 1878 |
| Died | June 27, 1952 (aged 73) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen |
| Known for | Dehn invariant Dehn's algorithm Dehn surgery Dehn's lemma Dehn twist Dehn function Dehn plane Dehn's rigidity theorem Dehn-Sommerville equations Dehn-Nielsen theorem |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Münster Goethe University Frankfurt Black Mountain College |
| Doctoral advisor | David Hilbert |
| Doctoral students | Ott-Heinrich Keller Wilhelm Magnus Ruth Moufang |
Max Wilhelm Dehn (November 13, 1878 – June 27, 1952) was a German mathematician most famous for his work in geometry, topology and geometric group theory. Dehn's early life and career took place in Germany. However, he was forced to retire in 1935 and eventually fled Germany in 1939 and emigrated to the United States.[1]
Dehn was a student of David Hilbert, and in his habilitation in 1900 Dehn resolved Hilbert's third problem, making him the first to resolve one of Hilbert's well-known 23 problems. Dehn's doctoral students include Ott-Heinrich Keller, Ruth Moufang, and Wilhelm Magnus;[2] he also mentored mathematician Peter Nemenyi and the artists Dorothea Rockburne[3] and Ruth Asawa.
- ^ The story of his travel in 1940 from Norway via Stockholm, Moscow, trans-Siberian train, Vladivostok, Japan to San Francisco is described in Dawson, J. W. Jr. (2002). "Max Dehn, Kurt Gödel, and the Trans-Siberian Escape Route" (PDF). Notices of the American Mathematical Society. 49: 1068–1075.
- ^ Max Dehn at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ Peifer, David (March 2011). "Max Dehn: An Artist among Mathematicians and a Mathematician among Artists". Black Mountain College Studies Journal. 1.