Menger, Karl (1902–1985)

Abstract

Karl Menger was born in Vienna on 13 January 1902, the son of Carl Menger, the founder of the Austrian school of economics, and died in Chicago on 5 October 1985. He studied mathematics, physics and philosophy at the University of Vienna from 1920 to 1924, where he received his doctoral degree in mathematics. In 1925 he went to Amsterdam (as an assistant of L.E.J. Brouwer) where he continued his research on the theory of curves and dimension theory which led to his habilitation as docent in 1926. In 1927, Menger was appointed associate professor of geometry at the University of Vienna, in which position he remained, interrupted by visiting professorships at Harvard University and the Rice Institute (1930/31), and at the University of Notre Dame (1937/38), until 1938.