Enhancing bilateral contacts in history of mathematics (Kristiansand-Ostrava)

Project facts

Project promoter:
Technical University of Ostrava
Project Number:
CZ07-0295
Target groups
Teachers, trainers, managers, leaders and other staff within higher education institutions
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€5,604
Final project cost:
€4,865
From Norway Grants:
€ 4,353
The project is carried out in:
ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA

Description

The research planned within the present proposal is part of an ongoing joint collaborative effort of the University of Agder and the VSB-TU Ostrava, where we are studying emigration of mathematicians from the Nazi threat. We are at present focusing on the renowned algebraist and functional analyst Henry Lowig (a.k.a. Heinrich Löwig, a.k.a. Jindřich Löwig). We have access to archived material which was unavailable to previous investigators, and which casts new light on Löwig’s activities before, during and directly after the Second World War. The results of this research, which we believe will be of great interest to the scientific community, will be written up for publication in a refereed scientific journal. Moreover, a report on the results will be presented at the 7th international congress of the European Society for the History of Science, a major scientific event.

Summary of project results

The goal of this research project was to understand the process of emigration if German-speaking mathematicians from Prague in the period 1938-48. We took the perspective of the eminent algebraist and functional analyst Henry Lowig (a.k.a. Heinrich Löwig, a.k.a. Jindřich Löwig), who – as a half-Jew – survived Nazi imprisonment in concentration camp, only to be ostracized after the war for being regarded as German. Thanks to new material found, e.g., in the archives of the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning in Britain and archives of the regional school administration of Moravia in Brno. Further previously unused material was found in the archives of Palacký University in Olomouc and Universität Greifswald, where Löwig was trying to get a position after WW2. All participants benefited greatly from this international interdisciplinary research, which diminished the inherent dangers of relying on a single source. We prepared a preprint of joint paper for publication in an important scientific journal and presented outputs of the project at two international conferences.

Summary of bilateral results

The project was a part of continued joint research cooperation among historians of mathematics from Ostrava and Kristiansand. This was seen as one of the ways to internationalize the Czech community, as the project offered to Czech scholars a possibility of short research stays abroad, not a common feature so far. In this way, interdisciplinary research was fostered, taking into account the recent research trends, accepting different background of the different audiences and bringing internationally relevant results.