Klein’s Assistant

Eckert, Michael

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-7461-6_3

Michael Eckert²

1174 Accesses

Abstract

“Klein’s previous lectures interest me extremely. One can look at them in the reading room,” Sommerfeld had written home shortly after his arrival in Göttingen in November, 1893. In a lecture on “Partial Differential Equations in Physics” from the winter semester of 1888/1889, Klein had also dealt with heat conduction, and Sommerfeld saw with satisfaction that Klein’s process bore “a quite amusing similarity” to the theoretical approach he had pursued in his competition entry on ground temperature measurements at Königsberg. “This is by no means evidence that I am a Klein, rather that with this method it’s possible to come as far as both he and I did. In fact, my attempts to go a step further have so far been unsuccessful.” In the case of other “physical differential equations” too, Klein’s lecture notes revealed so much fascinating mathematics that the physical content almost paled in comparison. The deeper Sommerfeld delved into it, the stronger grew his desire to make this his future research subject.

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Notes

1.
To his mother, November 19, 1893; Klein, Abhandlungen 3, 1923, Appendix, p. 7.
2.
Lecture Notes for “Partielle Differentialgleichungen I, Winter 88–89.” SUB Cod. Ms. F. Klein 15H., p. 1.
3.
Rowe, Antrittsrede, 1985, p. 133.
4.
Lecture Notes for “Partielle Differentialgleichungen I, Winter 88–89.” SUB Cod. Ms. F. Klein 15H. p. 3.
5.
Lecture Notes for “Partielle Differentialgleichungen I, Winter 88–89.” SUB Cod. Ms. F. Klein 15H. pp. 77–81.
6.
To his mother, November 19, 1893.
7.
To his mother, December 4, 1893.
8.
To his mother, December 5, 1893.
9.
Turner, Mittag-Leffler theorem, 2007. On the history of complex analysis, see Bottazzini, Calculus, 1986.
10.
Appell, Sur l’équation, 1892, p. 209.
11.
Protokollbuch Nr. 1 der Mathematischen Gesellschaft zu Göttingen (Easter 1893–February 1896). SUB Cod. Ms. Math. Archiv 49:1.
12.
Tazzioli, Green’s Function, 2001.
13.
Protokollbuch Nr. 1 der Mathematischen Gesellschaft zu Göttingen (Easter 1893–February 1896). SUB Cod. Ms. Math. Archiv 49:1.
14.
To his parents, December 5, 1893. Burkhardt, Entwicklungen, 1908, p. 1239.
15.
Klein, Riemannsche Flächen, 1985, p. 8.
16.
Pockels, Differentialgleichung, 1891, p. 1–2.
17.
To his mother, January 5, 1894.
18.
Sommerfeld, Theorie der Wärmeleitung, 1894.
19.
To his mother, February 17, 1894.
20.
Protokollbuch Nr. 1 der Mathematischen Gesellschaft zu Göttingen (Easter, 1893–February 1896). Entry of February 27, 1894. SUB Cod. Ms. Math. Archiv 49:1.
21.
To his mother, March 1, 1894.
22.
To his mother, June 9, 1894.
23.
For example, Pockels, Differentialgleichung, 1891.
24.
To his mother, October 3, 1894.
25.
To his parents, June 15, 1894.
26.
To his parents, June 27, 1894.
27.
To his parents, July 16, 1894.
28.
To his parents, July 20, 1894.
29.
To his mother, July 29, 1894.
30.
To his parents, August 3, 1894.
31.
Protokollbuch Nr. 1 der Mathematischen Gesellschaft zu Göttingen (Easter, 1893–February 1896). Entry of August 3, 1894. SUB Cod. Ms. Math. Archiv 49:1.
32.
Sommerfeld, Theorie der Beugungserscheinungen, 1894, p. 342.
33.
To his mother, September 19, 1894.
34.
To his parents, October 5, 1894.
35.
Curatorialrescripte 1891–1894. SUB Cod. Ms. F. Klein 2B.
36.
To his mother, November 1893.
37.
To his parents, October 29, 1893.
38.
To his mother, March 4, 1894.
39.
Hashagen, Walther von Dyck, ch. 9.2.
40.
Quoted in Frewer, Lesezimmer, 1979, p. 29.
41.
Frewer, Lesezimmer, 1979, pp. 30–48.
42.
Curatorialrescripte 1891–1894. SUB Cod. Ms. F. Klein 2B.
43.
Quoted from Jacobs, Felix Klein, 1977, p. 17.
44.
Manegold, Universität, 1970.
45.
To his parents, October 9, 1894.
46.
To his parents, March 12, 1895.
47.
Frewer, Lesezimmer, 1979, p. 49.
48.
To Klein, March 25, 1895. SUB, Klein 11, 1065 C. Also in ASWB I.
49.
Klein, Unterricht, 1895.
50.
Sommerfeld, Geburtstag, 1949.
51.
To his mother, October 3, 1894.
52.
Protokollbuch Nr. 1 der Mathematischen Gesellschaft zu Göttingen (Easter, 1893–February 1896). Entry of January 15, 1895. SUB Cod. Ms. Math. Archiv 49:1; Poincaré, Polarisation, 1892; Maey, Beugung, 1893.
53.
Manuscript, Mathematische Theorie der Beugung, undated. AHQP, Microfilm 23A, Sects. 3.3 and 3.4.
54.
Habilitationsgesuch, February 6, 1895. Dekanatsakten, F. Klein, 1894–1895. UAG Phil. Dek. 180a.
55.
Dekanatsakten, F. Klein, 1894–1895. Göttingen, UAG Phil. Dek. 180a.
56.
Dekanatsakten, F. Klein, 1894–1895. Göttingen, UAG Phil. Dek. 180a.
57.
To his parents, undated [late February 1895].
58.
Protokollbuch Nr. 1 der Mathematischen Gesellschaft zu Göttingen (Easter, 1893–February 1896). Entry of February 26, 1895. SUB Cod. Ms. Math. Archiv 49:1.
59.
To his parents, undated [late February 1895]. The classical philologist Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (1848–1931) belonged, like Klein, to the circle of Althoff’s intimates.
60.
Dekanatsakten, F. Klein, 1894–1895. UAG Phil. Dek. 180a.
61.
To his parents, March 12, 1895. Also in ASWB I.
62.
To his parents, August 3, 1894.
63.
As noted above, ch. 2, footnote 33, “lecturer” translates the German rank “Privatdozent.” “Reader” here translates the German rank “Lektor.”
64.
Philosophische Fakultät an den Curator, March 11, 1895. Dekanatsakten, F. Klein, 1894–1895. UAG Phil. Dek. 180a.
65.
To his parents, March 12, 1895. Also in ASWB I.
66.
Sommerfeld, Geburtstag, 1949, p. 289.
67.
Quoted in Lorey, Studium, 1916, pp. 351–353. Blumenthal‘s hand-written draft of Sommerfeld‘s lecture on the calculus of variations can be examined at the reading room of the Mathematical Institute at the University of Göttingen.
68.
Rowe, Felix Klein, 2001.
69.
Jacobs, Felix Klein, 1977, p. 18.
70.
Tobies, Felix Klein, 2000.
71.
Bohlmann, Versicherungsmathematik, 1900; Koch, Bedeutung, 2005; see also http://www.stochastik.math.uni-goettingen.de/index.php?id=18 (29 January 2013).
72.
To his mother, June 15, 1895.
73.
Manegold, Universität, 1970, pp. 136–144.
74.
Quoted in Frei, Briefwechsel, 1985, p. 121.
75.
Protokollbuch Nr. 1 der Mathematischen Gesellschaft zu Göttingen (Easter, 1893–February 1896). SUB Cod. Ms. Math. Archiv 49:1.
76.
Quoted in Lorey, Studium, 1916, p. 352.
77.
To his mother, October 12, 1895.
78.
To his mother, February 17, 1896.
79.
To his mother, November 30, 1894. Klein, Zahlentheorie, vols. 1 and 2, 1896.
80.
To his mother, February 15, 1895.
81.
To his mother, April 17, 1895.
82.
To his mother, June 15, 1895. On Poincaré‘s visit, see Protokollbuch Nr. 1 der Mathematischen Gesellschaft zu Göttingen (Easter, 1893–February 1896), entry of June 10, 1895. SUB Cod. Ms. Math. Archiv 49:1.
83.
This phrase written in English in the original.
84.
To his mother, July 19, 1895. Sommerfeld, Mathematische Theorie der Diffraction, 1896, pp. 371f.
85.
Poincaré, Sur la Polarisation, 1897, p. 313.
86.
To his mother, July 25, 1895.
87.
To his mother, September 21, 1895. Sommerfeld, Diffractionsprobleme, 1895.
88.
To his mother, September 24, 1895. On Csapski, see Flitner/Wittig, Optik, 2000.
89.
Sommerfeld, Ludwig Boltzmann, 1944, p. 25; Körber, Briefwechsel, 1961, pp. 118–120.
90.
To his parents, October 5, 1895.
91.
Protokollbuch Nr. 1 der Mathematischen Gesellschaft zu Göttingen (Easter, 1893–February 1896). Entry of November 12, 1895. SUB Cod. Ms. Math. Archiv 49:1.
92.
To his mother, November 17, 1895.
93.
To his parents, February 17, 1896.
94.
To his mother, March 10, 1896
95.
To his parents, December 22, 1894.
96.
To his parents, January 10, 1895.
97.
To his mother, October 16, 1895.
98.
To Johanna, undated.
99.
To Johanna, June 19, 1896.
100.
To Johanna, July 1, 1896.
101.
Many years later, in a letter to his wife on March 24, 1914, Arnold alluded to the secret engagement on that day in the years 1896.
102.
Johanna to Arnold’s mother, July 8, 1897.
103.
Johanna to Arnold’s mother, July 11, 1896.
104.
To his mother, July 20, 1896.
105.
To his parents, July 25, 1896
106.
From Arthur Heygster, August 5, 1896

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Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany
Michael Eckert

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Eckert, M. (2013). Klein’s Assistant. In: Arnold Sommerfeld. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7461-6_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7461-6_3
Published: 24 May 2013
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
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