Impact of World War II in mathematics
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In World War II relatively few known mathematicians were killed in action, but mathematical research was interrupted by the war.[1]
International[edit]
At 1936 International Congress of Mathematicians, American delegation invited the mathematicians of the world to hold 1940 International Congress of Mathematicians in the United States.[2] Plans had been practically completed for such a gathering at Harvard University[3] when the outbreak of World War II necessitated the cancellation of the Congress.[4] After the war, 1950 International Congress of Mathematicians was held in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Scottish Café was a café in Lviv. Several mathematicians met there to solve mathematical problems. During World War II, when Nazis occupied the city, the café had to close.[5] The Scottish Book and its problems survived the war (a successor tome is being compiled and kept at the University of Wroclaw, in Poland).
Nicolas Bourbaki was founded in response to the effects of the World War I which caused the death of a generation of French mathematicians. Bourbaki's work slowed significantly during the Second World War, though the group survived and later flourished.[6][7]
Mathematician Joe Bertony scaped two Nazi concentration camps, and then he helped to build Sydney Opera House.[8][9]
British mathematicians[edit]
British mathematician Alan Turing created Enigma machine to uncode Nazi code.
Advances[edit]
Using data, the Allies created a mathematical model to determine the rate of German tank production.[10]
During World War II, John von Neumann worked on the Manhattan Project with theoretical physicist Edward Teller, mathematician Stanislaw Ulam and others, problem-solving key steps in the nuclear physics involved in thermonuclear reactions and the hydrogen bomb. He developed the mathematical models behind the explosive lenses used in the implosion-type nuclear weapon and coined the term "kiloton" (of TNT) as a measure of the explosive force generated. While this, he developed game theory.[11]
Trachtenberg system is a system of rapid mental calculation. It was developed by the Russian engineer Jakow Trachtenberg in order to keep his mind occupied while being in a Nazi concentration camp.[12]
Spanish mathematician Faustino Antonio Camazón created a mathematical code.[13][14]
References[edit]
- ↑ Rees, Mina (1980). "The Mathematical Sciences and World War II". The American Mathematical Monthly. 87 (8): 607–621. doi:10.2307/2320947. ISSN 0002-9890. JSTOR 2320947.
- ↑ Richardson, R. G. D. (1940-03-01). "INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF MATHEMATICIANS". School Science and Mathematics. 40 (3): 214. doi:10.1111/j.1949-8594.1940.tb04085.x. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ Birkhoff, Garrett (1993). "Mathematics at Harvard in the 1940s". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 137 (2): 268–272. ISSN 0003-049X. JSTOR 986733.
- ↑ "The International Congress of Mathematics". The American Mathematical Monthly. 57 (3): 147–150. 1950. doi:10.2307/2304418. ISSN 0002-9890. JSTOR 2304418.
- ↑ Zielinski, Chris (2018-09-19). "Mathematicians at the Scottish Café". Histories of Computing in Eastern Europe. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. AICT-549. Springer International Publishing. pp. 252–275. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-29160-0_13. ISBN 978-3-030-29159-4. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) Search this book on
- ↑ Gunderman, David. "Nicolas Bourbaki: The greatest mathematician who never was". The Conversation. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
- ↑ Halley, Catherine (2021-03-24). "The Mathematical Pranksters behind Nicolas Bourbaki". JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
- ↑ "El brillante espía, ingeniero y matemático que escapó de dos campos de concentración nazis y ayudó a construir la Ópera de Sídney". BBC News Mundo (in español). 2019-04-27. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
- ↑ "Joseph Bertony, el brillante espía, ingeniero y matemático que escapó de dos campos de concentración nazis y ayudó a crear la Ópera de Sídney". El Universal (in español). 2019-04-27. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
- ↑ Staff, WIRED. "How Allies Used Math Against German Tanks". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
- ↑ Bollard, Alan (2019-12-12). "'If They Say Bomb at One O'clock …': John von Neumann in the USA, 1944–5". doi:10.1093/oso/9780198846000.003.0007.
- ↑ Trachtenberg, Jakow (1962). The Trachtenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics. Souvenir Press. ISBN 978-0-285-62916-5. Search this book on
- ↑ Limón, Raúl (2019-11-15). "El 'hacker' republicano que ayudó a desentrañar la máquina nazi Enigma". El País (in español). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
- ↑ "El olvidado matemático de Valladolid cuyo trabajo fue decisivo para derrotar a Hitler". abc (in español). 2019-11-18. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
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