Political aspects of mathematics: an attempt at the collection of evidence (Q1434084)

The author presents examples from the history of mathematics in which socio-political circumstances influence the mathematics. One example is the rediscovery of Diophantus and accompanying denigration of Arabic algebra, for example, by Viète. Another, a trivial one, is the well-known preface to \textit{Roland Weitzenböck's} ``Invariantentheorie'' (1923; JFM 49.0064.01) with its acrostic. However, the author's main example, which he analyzes thoroughly, is \textit{Hermann Weyl's} ``Das Kontinuum'', which appeared in 1918 (JFM 46.0056.11) and was demonstrably influenced by the events of World War I in its pessimistic criticism of the foundations of analysis and its (in his view) vicious circles. A fourth example is Oswald Teichmüller and his leading the boycott of Landau's classes on November 2, 1933. An interlude addresses the question of the possibility of a sociology of mathematics. Various non-scientific attitudes by scientists towards the science of others, as influenced by war and politics (e.g. Duhem, Bérillon, Picard, Bieberbach) are also discussed.