Emmy Noether's letters to P. S. Alexandroff (Q1811276): Difference between revisions

This is an edition (with extended commentary) of five letters and two postcards, written between 1924 and 1934 by the pioneer of abstract algebra, Emmy Noether (1882--1935), to the Russian topologist P. S. Alexandroff (1896--1982). The Göttingen mathematician Noether was instrumental in establishing connections between algebra and topology. The quality of her results was sometimes, as Felix Klein put it in 1919 (quoted p. 101), above the work of all others in Göttingen, including the full professors, a position which she never reached. Alexandroff was one of several important Russian mathematicians who developed strong connections to the Germans. The letters and postcards reflect the close relation between Noether and Alexandroff. Noether reveals a very positive, unselfish and sympathetic relation to the work of their students and colleagues, such as H. Hasse, H. Hopf, B. L. van der Waerden, E. Artin. Particularly interesting are Noether's reflections on her stay as an emigrant from Nazi Germany at Bryn Mawr College (Pennsylvania) shortly before her premature death in 1935. She seemed to manage the Englisch language rather well and got along with their female students. However, given the loss of the unique intellectual atmosphere of Göttingen, much of her evaluation should be explained by her well-known modesty.