Felix Klein in Leipzig 1880-1886 (Q1587366)

The article is a successful appreciation of F. Klein on the occasion of his 150th birthday. The author described Klein's call to Leipzig in 1880, his mathematical and organizational work in Leipzig and his move to Göttingen. In Leipzig Klein succeeded to realize his plans for founding the mathematics seminar, a mathematical library, and a collection of models. He instituted the first remunerated assistantship in mathematics at a German university. Klein's research in mathematics was focused on the theory of automorphic functions, where he gained many new results and stated some fundamental theorems like the ``Grenzkreistheorem''. This research was done in competition with H. Poincaré, but Klein had to pull back because he suffered from what the author characterizes as burn-out-syndrom. The author argues that nevertheless the desease did not mark the end of Klein's research activity as often stated. But the article is not restricted to Klein in Leipzig, it also contains information on his work in Erlangen, Munich, and Göttingen, which complete the picture of Klein's personality.