Martina R. Schneider – författare

This book offers a historical analysis of Bartel Leendert van der Waerden's early contributions to quantum mechanics; in particular, focusing on his role in the development and application of group-theoretic methods around 1930. While van der Waerden is widely known for his modern algebra, his engagement with quantum theory has received little attention in the historical literature. Through careful study of published and archival sources, the author reconstructs the contexts in which van der Waerden worked, and examines his networks as well as his interactions with contemporaries such as Hermann Weyl, Eugene Wigner, Paul Ehrenfest, and John Slater. By comparing the different emerging approaches of adapting group-theoretic methods to problems in quantum mechanics, the author shows that van der Waerden stands out as a rather pragmatic and undogmatic thinker. Special attention is given to reconstructing a more nuanced picture of the arising controversy around the ""group plague"" in quantum mechanics. Combining technical exposition with biographical and historical analysis, the book is intended for mathematicians, physicists, and historians of science. The reader is expected to have beginning, graduate-level knowledge of mathematics-mainly algebra and, in particular, representation theory-as well as some background in quantum physics. The study sheds light on a complex and fascinating period in the development of mathematical physics. It explores the dynamics of the interactions between mathematics and physics, and thus contributes to ongoing discussions about mathematization processes in science in the twentieth century.

This book addresses the historiography of mathematics as it was practiced during the 19th and 20th centuries by paying special attention to the cultural contexts in which the history of mathematics was written.In the 19th century, the history of mathematics was recorded by a diverse range of people trained in various fields and driven by different motivations and aims. These backgrounds often shaped not only their writing on the history of mathematics, but, in some instances, were also influential in their subsequent reception.During the period from roughly 1880-1940, mathematics modernized in important ways, with regard to its content, its conditions for cultivation, and its identity; and the writing of the history of mathematics played into the last part in particular.Parallel to the modernization of mathematics, the history of mathematics gradually evolved into a field of research with its own journals, societies and academic positions. Reflecting botha new professional identity and changes in its primary audience, various shifts of perspective in the way the history of mathematics was and is written can still be observed to this day. Initially concentrating on major internal, universal developments in certain sub-disciplines of mathematics, the field gradually gravitated towards a focus on contexts of knowledge production involving individuals, local practices, problems, communities, and networks.The goal of this book is to link these disciplinary and methodological changes in the history of mathematics to the broader cultural contexts of its practitioners, namely the historians of mathematics during the period in question.

This book addresses the historiography of mathematics as it was practiced during the 19th and 20th centuries by paying special attention to the cultural contexts in which the history of mathematics was written.

In the 19th century, the history of mathematics was recorded by a diverse range of people trained in various fields and driven by different motivations and aims. These backgrounds often shaped not only their writing on the history of mathematics, but, in some instances, were also influential in their subsequent reception.

During the period from roughly 1880-1940, mathematics modernized in important ways, with regard to its content, its conditions for cultivation, and its identity; and the writing of the history of mathematics played into the last part in particular.

Parallel to the modernization of mathematics, the history of mathematics gradually evolved into a field of research with its own journals, societies and academic positions. Reflecting both

a new professional identity and changes in its primary audience, various shifts of perspective in the way the history of mathematics was and is written can still be observed to this day. Initially concentrating on major internal, universal developments in certain sub-disciplines of mathematics, the field gradually gravitated towards a focus on contexts of knowledge production involving individuals, local practices, problems, communities, and networks.

The goal of this book is to link these disciplinary and methodological changes in the history of mathematics to the broader cultural contexts of its practitioners, namely the historians of mathematics during the period in question.