https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Friedrich_Wilhelm_LeviFriedrich Wilhelm Levi - Revision history2026-07-31T07:13:02ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Friedrich_Wilhelm_Levi&diff=458672&oldid=prevSamantBrara at 16:25, 20 October 20242024-10-20T16:25:37Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|German mathematician}}<br />
[[File:Levi,Friedrich Wilhelm 1930 Jena.jpg|thumb|upright|Friedrich Wilhelm Levi (1930).]]<br />
'''Friedrich Wilhelm Daniel Levi''' (February 6, 1888 – January 1, 1966) was a German [[mathematician]] known for his work in [[abstract algebra]], especially [[torsion-free abelian group]]s. He also worked in [[geometry]], [[topology]], [[set theory]], and [[Mathematical analysis|analysis]].<br />
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==Early life and education==<br />
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Levi was born to Georg Levi and Emma Blum in [[Mulhouse]] in [[Alsace-Lorraine]], then part of the [[German Empire]]. He received his Ph.D. in 1911 under [[Heinrich Martin Weber]] at the [[University of Strasbourg]].<ref name=FG>{{citation<br />
| last1 = Fuchs | first1 = L. | author1-link = László Fuchs<br />
| last2 = Göbel | first2 = R.<br />
| contribution = Friedrich Wilhelm Levi, 1888–1966<br />
| mr = 1217255<br />
| pages = 1–14<br />
| publisher = [[Marcel Dekker]]<br />
| series = Lecture Notes in Pure and Applied Mathematics<br />
| title = Abelian Groups (Curaçao, 1991)<br />
| volume = 146<br />
| year = 1993}}</ref><br />
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==Career==<br />
Levi served his mandatory military service in the German Army in 1906–1907, and was called up again serving in the artillery during [[World War I]], 1914–18. Awarded the [[Iron Cross]], he was discharged as a lieutenant. In 1917, he married Barbara Fitting, with whom he eventually had three children ([[Paul Levi (Framer)|Paul Levi]], Charlotte, and Suzanne). He taught at the [[University of Leipzig]] from 1920 to 1935, when the [[Nazism|Nazi]] government dismissed him because of his Jewish ancestry. Friedrich and Barbara moved to [[Calcutta]], [[India]].<ref name=FG/><br />
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In 1935 he accepted an offer as head of the Mathematics Department at the [[University of Calcutta]].<ref name=FG/> He introduced the [[Levi graph]] in 1940 at a series of lectures on [[finite geometry]].<ref>{{citation<br />
| last = Levi | first = F. W. | author-link = Friedrich Wilhelm Levi<br />
| location = Calcutta<br />
| mr = 0006834<br />
| publisher = University of Calcutta<br />
| title = Finite Geometrical Systems<br />
| year = 1942}}.</ref> He contributed to the understanding of [[combinatorics on words]] when he articulated the [[Levi lemma]] in an article for the [[Calcutta Mathematical Society]].<ref>{{citation<br />
| last = Levi | first = F. W.<br />
| journal = Bulletin of the Calcutta Mathematical Society<br />
| mr = 0011694 | zbl=0061.02405 <br />
| pages = 141–146<br />
| title = On semigroups<br />
| volume = 36<br />
| year = 1944}}.</ref> In 1948, Levi became professor of mathematics at [[Tata Institute of Fundamental Research]] in [[Mumbai]], [[India]]. According to [[Raghavan Narasimhan]], Levi had an important influence on the development of 20th century mathematics in India, especially by introducing modern algebra at the University of Calcutta.<ref>Raghavan Narasimhan [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-76709-8_15 ''The coming of age of mathematics in India''], pp. 235–258 in [[Michael Atiyah]] et al.. ''Miscellanea Mathematica'', Springer Verlag 1991, p. 246</ref><br />
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In 1952, he returned to Germany and was a professor at the [[Free University of Berlin]] and later [[University of Freiburg]]. He died in [[Freiburg im Breisgau|Freiburg]] on the first day of 1966.<ref name=FG/> A bibliography of 70 works in mathematics by Levi is included in the 1991 tribute by [[László Fuchs]] and Rüdiger Göbel.<br />
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==Selected publications==<br />
* ''Abelsche Gruppen mit abzählbaren Elementen''. B. G. Teubner, Leipzig [1919]. (Habilitationsschrift, Universität Leipzig)<br />
* ''Geometrische Konfigurationen''. Hirzel, Leipzig 1929.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Cohen, Leon Warren|title=Review of ''Geometrische Konfigurationen'' by Friedrich Levi|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1931|volume=37|pages=8–9|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1931-37-01/S0002-9904-1931-05072-2/S0002-9904-1931-05072-2.pdf|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1931-05072-2|doi-access=free}}</ref><br />
* [[Reinhold Baer]] and Friedrich Levi: ''Ränder topologischer Räume''. Hirzel, Leipzig 1930.<br />
* ''On the fundamentals of analysis. Six lectures delivered in February 1938 at the University of Calcutta''. University of Calcutta, Calcutta 1939.<br />
* F. W. Levi and R. N. Sen: ''Plane geometry''. Calcutta 1939.<br />
* ''Finite geometrical systems. Six public lectures delivered in February 1940 at the University of Calcutta''. University of Calcutta, Calcutta 1942.<br />
* ''Algebra''. University of Calcutta, Calcutta 1942.<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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== External links ==<br />
* {{MathGenealogy|id=30179}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Levi, Friedrich Wilhelm}}<br />
[[Category:20th-century German mathematicians]]<br />
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]<br />
[[Category:Group theorists]]<br />
[[Category:University of Strasbourg alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Calcutta]]<br />
[[Category:Academic staff of Leipzig University]]<br />
[[Category:Academic staff of the Free University of Berlin]]<br />
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Freiburg]]<br />
[[Category:People from Alsace-Lorraine]]<br />
[[Category:Scientists from Mulhouse]]<br />
[[Category:Alsatian Jews]]<br />
[[Category:Levites]]<br />
[[Category:1888 births]]<br />
[[Category:1966 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Presidents of the Indian Mathematical Society]]<br />
[[Category:German expatriates in India]]<br />
[[Category:People dismissed from faculty positions by Nazi Germany]]<br />
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]</div>SamantBrara