Personal Reflections on Dirk Jan Struik By Joseph W. Dauben

Abstract

Dirk Jan Struik, who taught for many years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and died on 21 October 2000 at the age of 106, was a distinguished mathematician and influential teacher. He was also widely known as a leading Marxist scholar and social activist. His early work on vector and tensor analysis, undertaken together with Jan Arnoldus Schouten, helped impart new mathematical techniques needed to master Einstein’s general theory of relativity. This collaboration lasted for over 20 years, but by the end of the 1930s, Struik came to realize that the heyday of the Ricci calculus had passed. After the Second World War, having now entered his 50s, he gave up mathematical research in order to focus his attention on the history of mathematics and science. It was through his work as an historian that he left a truly lasting mark, not only as a writer but also as a mentor to those who had the pleasure of knowing him personally.