Alfred Pringsheim
Encyclopedia
Alfred Israel Pringsheim (2 September 1850 – 25 June 1941) was a German
mathematician
and patron of the arts. He was born in Ohlau, Prussian Silesia (now Oława, Poland
) and died in Zürich
, Switzerland
.
n merchant family with Jewish roots. He was the first-born child and only son of the Upper Silesian railway entrepreneur and coal mine owner Rudolf Pringsheim (1821–1901) and his wife Paula, née Deutschmann (1827–1909). He had a younger sister, Martha.
Pringsheim attended the Maria Magdalena Gymnasium
in Breslau, where he excelled in music and mathematics. Starting in 1868 he studied mathematics and physics in Berlin and at the Ruprecht Karl University in Heidelberg
. In 1872 he was awarded a doctorate in mathematics, studying under Leo Königsberger
. In 1875 he moved from Berlin, where his parents lived, to Munich to earn his habilitation
. Two years later he became a lecturer at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
In 1886 he was appointed associate professor of mathematics there, and in 1901 full professor He retired as emeritus professor in 1922. He was elected a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in 1898, a position he held until 1938, and was a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences. He was also awarded membership in the Leopoldina, Germany’s oldest academy of natural sciences.
Pringsheim considered himself to be a German citizen who no longer followed the "Mosaic belief" (meaning conservative or orthodox Judaism
), but he repeatedly declined to have himself baptized.
In 1878 he married the Berlin actress Gertrude Hedwig Anna Dohm (1855–1942), whose mother was the famous Berlin advocate of women’s rights Hedwig Dohm
(1831–1919). They had five children: Erik (* 1879), Peter (*1881), Heinz (*1882) and twins born in 1883, Klaus and Katharina, known as Katia. His first-born son, Erik, was exiled to Argentina because of his dissolute life and gambling debts and died there at an early age. His sons Peter and Klaus followed him in pursuing academic careers, obtaining professorships in physics and composition. Heinz became an archaeologist with a doctorate in that field. His daughter Katia was the first female in Munich to earn the qualifications for university admission and was one of the first active women students at Munich University. She later became the wife of the author and Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann
.
In 1889 he and his family moved into a Neo-Renaissance
villa at Arcisstrasse 12 designed by the Berlin architects Kayser & von Großheim with interior furnishings provided by Joh. Wachter and the court furniture manufacturer O. Fritsche of Munich. On major social nights the Munich elite was hosted here in what was known as the Pringsheim Palace.
Besides mathematics, ever since his youth Pringsheim was also intensively occupied with music, and adapted various compositions of Richard Wagner
for the piano. Later he became interested in the theory and history of art, building up important collections of majolica
earthenware and paintings.
In his novel Königliche Hoheit, Thomas Mann portrayed his father-in-law as the character Samuel Spoelman.
, Pringsheim studied real
and complex functions
, following the power-series-approach of the Weierstrass school. Pringsheim published numerous works on the subject of complex analysis
, with a focus on the summability theory of infinite series and the boundary behavior of analytic functions.
Pringsheim's theorem concerns the convergence of a power series with non-negative real coefficients. However, Pringsheim's original proof
had a flaw (related to uniform convergence), and a correct proof was provided by Ralph P. Boas. Pringsheim's theorem is used in analytic combinatorics
and the Perron–Frobenius theory
of positive operators on ordered vector space
s.
Besides his research in analysis, Pringsheim also wrote articles for the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences on the fundamentals of arithmetic and on number theory. He published papers in the Annals of Mathematics. As an officer of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, he recorded the minutes of its scientific meetings.
Pringsheim and Ivan Śleszyński
, working separately, proved what is now called the Śleszyński–Pringsheim theorem
on convergence of certain continued fraction
s.
His association with Wagner was so intense that Pringsheim supported him financially to a significant extent, and also backed the Bayreuth music festival. In gratitude he received a certificate designating him as a patron, which guaranteed him a seat at certain performances. In her memoires about this acquaintance with Wagner his granddaughter, Erika Mann
, wrote that Prof. Pringsheim was even once involved in a duel because someone had insulted Wagner.
His financial decline began with World War I
. As a “German patriot” he subscribed to war loans which lost their nominal value after the war, which meant the loss of a major part of his capital. The disastrous inflation of 1923 and 1924 resulted in additional high losses.
As a result he had to sell part of his art collection, which probably included a mural by Hans Thoma
. His ironic comment, “I live from wall to mouth”. Primarily because of his age (he was in his mid-70s) he did not want to go abroad, as did most of his family, and remained in Germany. When the persecution and expropriation of the Jewish population began, he was forced to travel the bitter path of humiliation and deprivation of rights which the Nazi regime had planned for citizens of Jewish descent. At first he was not allowed to leave the country. Winifred Wagner
was not able to help the elderly Wagner devotee. Through the intervention of the then rector of Munich University (LMU), his former neighbor Karl Haushofer
, who was a friend of Rudolf Hess
, and the professor of mathematics Dr. Oskar Perron
, one of Alfred Pringsheim’s former students, as well as through the initiative of a courageous member of the SS who arranged for passports at the last minute, he and his wife were able to leave for Zurich, Switzerland on 31 October 1939 after suffering further grave humiliations. With the proceeds remaining after the Nazi-initiated forced auction at short notice of his majolica collection he was even able to pay the so-called “desertion tax” (Reichsfluchtsteuer).
His house had to be sold to the Nazi party. It was torn down and replaced by a party administration building. The files of all German Nazi party members were stored there until 1945. Today it houses the Institute of Art History of Munich University (LMU) and the offices of the Munich State Collection of Antiquities, among others entities.
Alfred Pringsheim died on 25 June 1941 in Zurich. His wife then apparently burned all of the personal effects which had been brought to Switzerland, including the letters from Richard Wagner. She died one year later.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and patron of the arts. He was born in Ohlau, Prussian Silesia (now Oława, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
) and died in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
Family and academic career
Alfred Pringsheim came from an extremely wealthy SilesiaSilesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
n merchant family with Jewish roots. He was the first-born child and only son of the Upper Silesian railway entrepreneur and coal mine owner Rudolf Pringsheim (1821–1901) and his wife Paula, née Deutschmann (1827–1909). He had a younger sister, Martha.
Pringsheim attended the Maria Magdalena Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Breslau, where he excelled in music and mathematics. Starting in 1868 he studied mathematics and physics in Berlin and at the Ruprecht Karl University in Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
. In 1872 he was awarded a doctorate in mathematics, studying under Leo Königsberger
Leo Königsberger
Leo Königsberger was a German mathematician, and historian of science. He is best known for his three-volume biography of Hermann von Helmholtz, which remains the standard reference on the subject.-Biography:...
. In 1875 he moved from Berlin, where his parents lived, to Munich to earn his habilitation
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
. Two years later he became a lecturer at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
Pringsheim considered himself to be a German citizen who no longer followed the "Mosaic belief" (meaning conservative or orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
), but he repeatedly declined to have himself baptized.
In 1878 he married the Berlin actress Gertrude Hedwig Anna Dohm (1855–1942), whose mother was the famous Berlin advocate of women’s rights Hedwig Dohm
Hedwig Dohm
Marianne Adelaide Hedwig Dohm born Schlesinger, later Schleh was a German feminist, and author. She was one of the first feminist thinkers to see gender roles as a result of socialization and not biological determinism.-Family:She was born in Berlin to Jewish parents, as a daughter of Wilhelmine...
(1831–1919). They had five children: Erik (* 1879), Peter (*1881), Heinz (*1882) and twins born in 1883, Klaus and Katharina, known as Katia. His first-born son, Erik, was exiled to Argentina because of his dissolute life and gambling debts and died there at an early age. His sons Peter and Klaus followed him in pursuing academic careers, obtaining professorships in physics and composition. Heinz became an archaeologist with a doctorate in that field. His daughter Katia was the first female in Munich to earn the qualifications for university admission and was one of the first active women students at Munich University. She later became the wife of the author and Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
.
In 1889 he and his family moved into a Neo-Renaissance
Neo-Renaissance
Renaissance Revival is an all-encompassing designation that covers many 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Grecian nor Gothic but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of classicizing Italian modes...
villa at Arcisstrasse 12 designed by the Berlin architects Kayser & von Großheim with interior furnishings provided by Joh. Wachter and the court furniture manufacturer O. Fritsche of Munich. On major social nights the Munich elite was hosted here in what was known as the Pringsheim Palace.
Besides mathematics, ever since his youth Pringsheim was also intensively occupied with music, and adapted various compositions of Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
for the piano. Later he became interested in the theory and history of art, building up important collections of majolica
Maiolica
Maiolica is Italian tin-glazed pottery dating from the Renaissance. It is decorated in bright colours on a white background, frequently depicting historical and legendary scenes.-Name:...
earthenware and paintings.
In his novel Königliche Hoheit, Thomas Mann portrayed his father-in-law as the character Samuel Spoelman.
Mathematical investigations
In mathematical analysisMathematical analysis
Mathematical analysis, which mathematicians refer to simply as analysis, has its beginnings in the rigorous formulation of infinitesimal calculus. It is a branch of pure mathematics that includes the theories of differentiation, integration and measure, limits, infinite series, and analytic functions...
, Pringsheim studied real
Real analysis
Real analysis, is a branch of mathematical analysis dealing with the set of real numbers and functions of a real variable. In particular, it deals with the analytic properties of real functions and sequences, including convergence and limits of sequences of real numbers, the calculus of the real...
and complex functions
Complex analysis
Complex analysis, traditionally known as the theory of functions of a complex variable, is the branch of mathematical analysis that investigates functions of complex numbers. It is useful in many branches of mathematics, including number theory and applied mathematics; as well as in physics,...
, following the power-series-approach of the Weierstrass school. Pringsheim published numerous works on the subject of complex analysis
Complex analysis
Complex analysis, traditionally known as the theory of functions of a complex variable, is the branch of mathematical analysis that investigates functions of complex numbers. It is useful in many branches of mathematics, including number theory and applied mathematics; as well as in physics,...
, with a focus on the summability theory of infinite series and the boundary behavior of analytic functions.
Pringsheim's theorem concerns the convergence of a power series with non-negative real coefficients. However, Pringsheim's original proof
Mathematical proof
In mathematics, a proof is a convincing demonstration that some mathematical statement is necessarily true. Proofs are obtained from deductive reasoning, rather than from inductive or empirical arguments. That is, a proof must demonstrate that a statement is true in all cases, without a single...
had a flaw (related to uniform convergence), and a correct proof was provided by Ralph P. Boas. Pringsheim's theorem is used in analytic combinatorics
Analytic combinatorics
Analytic combinatorics is a branch of combinatorics that describes combinatorial classes using generating functions, with formal power series that often correspond to analytic functions....
and the Perron–Frobenius theory
Perron–Frobenius theorem
In linear algebra, the Perron–Frobenius theorem, proved by and , asserts that a real square matrix with positive entries has a unique largest real eigenvalue and that the corresponding eigenvector has strictly positive components, and also asserts a similar statement for certain classes of...
of positive operators on ordered vector space
Ordered vector space
In mathematics an ordered vector space or partially ordered vector space is a vector space equipped with a partial order which is compatible with the vector space operations.- Definition:...
s.
Besides his research in analysis, Pringsheim also wrote articles for the Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences on the fundamentals of arithmetic and on number theory. He published papers in the Annals of Mathematics. As an officer of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, he recorded the minutes of its scientific meetings.
Pringsheim and Ivan Śleszyński
Ivan Sleszynski
Ivan Śleszyński was a Ukrainian-born Polish mathematician. Śleszyński's main work was on continued fractions, least squares and axiomatic proof theory based on mathematical logic. He and Alfred Pringsheim, working separately, proved what is now called the Śleszyński–Pringsheim theorem.-External...
, working separately, proved what is now called the Śleszyński–Pringsheim theorem
Śleszyński–Pringsheim theorem
In mathematics, the Śleszyński–Pringsheim theorem is a statement about convergence of certain continued fractions. It was discovered by Ivan Śleszyński and Alfred Pringsheim in the late 19th century....
on convergence of certain continued fraction
Continued fraction
In mathematics, a continued fraction is an expression obtained through an iterative process of representing a number as the sum of its integer part and the reciprocal of another number, then writing this other number as the sum of its integer part and another reciprocal, and so on...
s.
Acquaintance with the Wagner family
Pringsheim had a deep, early interest in music and was especially fascinated by the works of Richard Wagner. He corresponded with Wagner personally, whose letters he took with him when he went into exile to Switzerland. His musical inclinations led to the publication of several arrangements of Wagner’s work, and he also wrote on subjects in the field of music.His association with Wagner was so intense that Pringsheim supported him financially to a significant extent, and also backed the Bayreuth music festival. In gratitude he received a certificate designating him as a patron, which guaranteed him a seat at certain performances. In her memoires about this acquaintance with Wagner his granddaughter, Erika Mann
Erika Mann
Erika Julia Hedwig Mann was a German actress and writer, the eldest daughter of novelist Thomas Mann and Katia Mann.-Life:...
, wrote that Prof. Pringsheim was even once involved in a duel because someone had insulted Wagner.
Financial situation and Nazi persecution
His family’s fortune left Pringsheim a wealthy man. He also had a sizeable monthly income as a full professor at the university. After the death of the family patriarch in 1913 he had at his disposal assets amounting to 13 million marks and an annual income of 800,000 marks, which is today equivalent to 10.5 million euro and 646,000 euro, respectively.His financial decline began with World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. As a “German patriot” he subscribed to war loans which lost their nominal value after the war, which meant the loss of a major part of his capital. The disastrous inflation of 1923 and 1924 resulted in additional high losses.
As a result he had to sell part of his art collection, which probably included a mural by Hans Thoma
Hans Thoma
Hans Thoma was a German painter.-Biography:He was born in Bernau in the Black Forest, Germany. Having started life as a painter of clock-faces, he entered in 1859 the Karlsruhe academy, where he studied under Schirmer and Des Coudres...
. His ironic comment, “I live from wall to mouth”. Primarily because of his age (he was in his mid-70s) he did not want to go abroad, as did most of his family, and remained in Germany. When the persecution and expropriation of the Jewish population began, he was forced to travel the bitter path of humiliation and deprivation of rights which the Nazi regime had planned for citizens of Jewish descent. At first he was not allowed to leave the country. Winifred Wagner
Winifred Wagner
Winifred Wagner was an English woman married to Siegfried Wagner, Richard Wagner's son. She was the effective head of the Wagner family from 1930 to 1945, and a close friend of German dictator Adolf Hitler....
was not able to help the elderly Wagner devotee. Through the intervention of the then rector of Munich University (LMU), his former neighbor Karl Haushofer
Karl Haushofer
Karl Ernst Haushofer was a German general, geographer and geopolitician. Through his student Rudolf Hess, Haushofer's ideas may have influenced the development of Adolf Hitler's expansionist strategies, although Haushofer denied direct influence on the Nazi regime.-Biography:Haushofer belonged to...
, who was a friend of Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi Party during the 1930s and early 1940s...
, and the professor of mathematics Dr. Oskar Perron
Oskar Perron
Oskar Perron was a German mathematician.He was a professor at the University of Heidelberg from 1914 to 1922 and at the University of Munich from 1922 to 1951...
, one of Alfred Pringsheim’s former students, as well as through the initiative of a courageous member of the SS who arranged for passports at the last minute, he and his wife were able to leave for Zurich, Switzerland on 31 October 1939 after suffering further grave humiliations. With the proceeds remaining after the Nazi-initiated forced auction at short notice of his majolica collection he was even able to pay the so-called “desertion tax” (Reichsfluchtsteuer).
His house had to be sold to the Nazi party. It was torn down and replaced by a party administration building. The files of all German Nazi party members were stored there until 1945. Today it houses the Institute of Art History of Munich University (LMU) and the offices of the Munich State Collection of Antiquities, among others entities.
Alfred Pringsheim died on 25 June 1941 in Zurich. His wife then apparently burned all of the personal effects which had been brought to Switzerland, including the letters from Richard Wagner. She died one year later.
Publications
- Daniel Bernoulli – Versuch einer neuen Theorie der Wertbestimmung von Glücksfällen, 1896
- Irrationalzahlen und Konvergenz unendlicher Prozesse, Leipzig 1898
- Über Wert und angeblichen Unwert der Mathematik – Address presented at a public meeting of the royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Munich, on the occasion of the 145th Endowment Day on 14 March 1904
- Uber Konvergenz und Funktionentheoretischen Charakter Gewisser Limitar-Periodischer Kettenbruche, Munich 1910
- Majolica, Leiden 1910
- Über den Taylorschen Lehrsatz für Funktionen einer reellen Veränderlichen, offprint of the Royal Academy of Sciences, 1913
- Majolikasammlung Alfred Pringsheim in München, Leiden 1914
- Vorlesungen über Zahlenlehre – first volume, part 2 (I.2) Unendliche Reihen mit Reellen Gliedern, Leipzig 1916
- Über singuläre Punkte gleichmässiger Konvergenz – presented on 6 December 1919 in Munich at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (Minutes of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Mathematical-Physical Division; offprint 1919)
- Grundlagen der allgemeinen Funktionenlehre
- Vorlesungen über Funktionslehre. Erste Abteilung: Grundlagen der Theorie der analytischen Funktionen einer komplexen Veränderlichen, Leipzig and Berlin 1925
- Vorlesungen über Zahlen- und Funktionenlehre, 2 vol. (Bibliotheca Mathematica Teubneriana, volumes 28,29). Leipzig, 1916–1932
- Kritisch-historische Bemerkungen zur Funktionentheorie, Reprint 1986 ISBN 3769640713
Sources
- Ernst Klee, Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich, Frankfurt/Main 2007
- Franz Neubert (Hrsg.), Deutsches Zeitgenossen-Lexikon, Leipzig 1905
- Hermann A.L. Degener, Wer ist's, Leipzig 1911
- Hermann A.L. Degener, Wer ist's, Berlin 1935
- Tilmann Lahme, "Von der Wand in den Mund – Ordnung und spätes Leid im Haus der Schwiegereltern Thomas Manns: Die Pringsheims im Münchner Jüdischen Museum", artikel in the Frankfurter Allgemeine ZeitungFrankfurter Allgemeine ZeitungThe Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , short F.A.Z., also known as the FAZ, is a national German newspaper, founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt am Main. The Sunday edition is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung .F.A.Z...
dated 7 April 2007
Literature
- Inge und Walter Jens: Auf der Suche nach dem verlorenen Sohn – Die Südamerika-Reise der Hedwig Pringsheim 1907/8. Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek, 2006, ISBN 3-498-05304-3
- Lorenz Seelig: Die Münchner Sammlung Alfred Pringsheim – Versteigerung, Beschlagnahmung, Restitution. In: Entehrt. Ausgeplündert. Arisiert. Entrechtung und Enteignung der Juden, bearb. von Andrea Baresel-Brand (= Veröffentlichungen der Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste, Bd. 3). Magdeburg 2005, pp. 265–290. ISBN 3-00-017002-2
- Inge und Walter Jens: Katias Mutter. Das außerordentliche Leben der Hedwig Pringsheim. Rowohlt. Reinbek, 2005. ISBN 3498033379
- Katia Mann: Meine ungeschriebenen Memoiren. Fischer TB. Frankfurt, 2000. ISBN 3596146739
- Inge und Walter Jens: Frau Thomas Mann. Das Leben der Katharina Pringsheim. Rowohlt. Reinbek, 2003. ISBN 3498033387
- Kirsten Jüngling/Brigitte Roßbeck: Katia Mann. Die Frau des Zauberers. Brigitte Propyläen. 2003. ISBN 3549071914
Films
- Frau Thomas Mann, film script and director: Birgit Kienzle, first broadcast: ARD, 9 August 2005
- Die Manns – ein Jahrhundertroman, film script: Horst Königstein and Heinrich Breloer, director: Heinrich Breloer, WDR 2001