Constantin Caratheodory: Mathematics and Politics in Turbulent Times

Constantin Caratheodory (Berlin 1873-1950 Munich) - Mathematics and Politics in Turbulent Times is a biography of a mathematician who became famous during his life, but has hitherto been ignored by historians for half a century after his death. In a thought-provoking approach, Maria Georgiadou devotes to Constantin Caratheodory all the attention such a personality deserves. With breathtaking detail and the appropriate scrutiny she elucidates his oeuvre, life and turbulent political/historical surroundings: descending from the Greek elite of Constantinople, Caratheodory graduated from the military school of Brussels, became engineer at the Assiout dam in Egypt and finally dedicated a life of effort to mathematics and education. He studied and embarked on an international academic career, haunted by wars, catastrophes and personal tragedies. Over the last years of his life, he stayed in Munich despite World War II, an ambiguous decision upon which the author sheds unprecedented light. Caratheodory’s most significant mathematical contributions were to the calculus of variations, the theory of point set measure, and the theory of functions of a real variable, pdes, also to complex function theory.The interdisciplinarity of the text allows easy access for both scholars and readers with a general interest in mathematics, politics and history. The thoroughness of the author’s research and evaluations is certain to leave everyone impressed and more knowledgeable.