The emigration of mathematicians from Europe during the Nazi era
signaled an irrevocable and important historical shift for the
international mathematics world. Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi
Germany is the first thoroughly documented account of this exodus. In
this greatly expanded translation of the 1998 German edition, Reinhard
Siegmund-Schultze describes the flight of more than 140 mathematicians,
their reasons for leaving, the political and economic issues involved,
the reception of these emigrants by various countries, and the
emigrants' continuing contributions to mathematics. The influx of these
brilliant thinkers to other nations profoundly reconfigured the
mathematics world and vaulted the United States into a new leadership
role in mathematics research.
Based on archival sources that have never been examined before, the book
discusses the preeminent emigrant mathematicians of the period,
including Emmy Noether, John von Neumann, Hermann Weyl, and many others.
The author explores the mechanisms of the expulsion of mathematicians
from Germany, the emigrants' acculturation to their new host countries,
and the fates of those mathematicians forced to stay behind. The book
reveals the alienation and solidarity of the emigrants, and investigates
the global development of mathematics as a consequence of their radical
migration.
An in-depth yet accessible look at mathematics both as a scientific
enterprise and human endeavor, Mathematicians Fleeing from Nazi
Germany provides a vivid picture of a critical chapter in the history
of international science.
