Four Heidelberg topologists 1935--1996 (Q2690555)

The four topologists were: Herbert Seifert (1907--1996), William Threlfall (1888--1949), Albrecht Dold (1928--2011), and Dieter Puppe (1930--2005). All four were eminent and widely known: Seifert and Threlfall for their joint classic \textit{Lehrbuch der Topologie} (1st ed. 1935) and further joint contributions to low-dimensional topology and knot theory. Dold, a student of Seifert and collaborator of René Thom, after some years spent in Zürich, Columbia University and Princeton, has settled down in Heidelberg and worked on algebraic topology and homology theory. And Puppe, Dold's friend and a co-funder (with Beno Eckmann) of popular \textit{Lecture Notes in Mathematics}, has distinguished himself in homotopy theory. Thus all were known for their achievements, but the paper concentrates rather on their common interrelations and university intricacies, offering an interesting insight into university life of Nazi and post-Nazi times in Germany.