View source for Bartel Leendert van der Waerden

{{Short description|Dutch mathematician (1903–1996)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Family name hatnote|van der Waerden|Waerden|lang=Dutch}}
{{Dutch name capitalization|Van der Waerden}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Bartel Leendert van der Waerden
|image             = ETH-BIB-Waerden, Bartel Leendert van der (1903-1996)-Portr 12109.tif
|image_size        =
|caption           = Van der Waerden in 1980
|birth_date        = {{birth date|1903|2|2|df=y}}
|birth_place       = [[Amsterdam]], Netherlands
|death_date        = {{death date and age|1996|1|12|1903|2|2|df=y}}
|death_place       = [[Zürich]], Switzerland
|fields            = [[Mathematics]]
|workplaces        = [[University of Leipzig]]<br />[[University of Zurich]]<br />[[University of Groningen]]
|alma_mater        = [[University of Amsterdam]]<br />[[University of Göttingen]]
|doctoral_advisor  = [[Hendrik de Vries (mathematician)|Hendrik de Vries]]
|doctoral_students = [[Wei-Liang Chow]]<br>[[David van Dantzig]]<br>[[Jan van Deemter]]<br>[[Günther Frei]]<br>[[Guerino Mazzola]]<br/>[[Herbert Seifert]]
|known_for         = [[Van der Waerden notation]]<br />[[Van der Waerden number]]<br />[[Van der Waerden's theorem]]<br />[[Van der Waerden test]]<br />[[Van der Waerden's conjecture]]<br>[[Infeld–Van der Waerden symbols|Van der Waerden symbols]]<br>[[Arithmetic progression game|Van der Waerden game]]
|awards            =
}}
'''Bartel Leendert van der Waerden''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈbɑrtə(l) ˈleːndərt fɑn dər ˈʋaːrdə(n)|lang}}; 2 February 1903&nbsp;– 12 January 1996) was a [[Dutch people|Dutch]] [[mathematician]] and [[History of mathematics|historian of mathematics]].

==Biography==

===Education and early career===
Van der Waerden learned advanced mathematics at the [[University of Amsterdam]] and the [[University of Göttingen]], from 1919 until 1926. He was much influenced by [[Emmy Noether]] at [[Göttingen]], [[Germany]]. Amsterdam awarded him a Ph.D. for a thesis on [[algebraic geometry]], supervised by Hendrick de Vries.<ref name=math>{{MathGenealogy|id=30607}}</ref> Göttingen awarded him the [[habilitation]] in 1928. In that year, at the age of 25, he accepted a professorship at the [[University of Groningen]].

At 27, Van der Waerden published his ''[[Moderne Algebra]]'', an influential two-volume treatise on [[abstract algebra]], still cited, and perhaps the first treatise to treat the subject as a comprehensive whole. This work systematized an ample body of research by [[Emmy Noether]], [[David Hilbert]], [[Richard Dedekind]], and [[Emil Artin]]. In the following year, 1931, he was appointed professor at the [[University of Leipzig]].

In July 1929 he married the sister of mathematician [[Franz Rellich]], Camilla Juliana Anna; they had three children.

===Nazi Germany===
After the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]] [[Machtergreifung|seized power]], and through [[World War II]], Van der Waerden remained at Leipzig, and passed up opportunities to leave Nazi Germany for [[Princeton University|Princeton]] and [[Utrecht University|Utrecht]]. However, he was critical of the Nazis and refused to give up his Dutch nationality, both of which led to difficulties for him.<ref>Soifer, pp. 393–417.</ref>

===Postwar career===
Following the war, Van der Waerden was repatriated to the Netherlands rather than returning to [[Leipzig]] (then under Soviet control), but struggled to find a position in the Dutch academic system, in part because his time in Germany made his politics suspect and in part due to [[Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer|Brouwer]]'s opposition to Hilbert's school of mathematics. After a year visiting [[Johns Hopkins University]] and two years as a part-time professor, in 1950, Van der Waerden filled the chair in mathematics at the University of Amsterdam.<ref>Soifer, pp. 418–474.</ref> In 1951, he moved to the [[University of Zurich]], where he spent the rest of his career, supervising more than 40 [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D. students]]. 

In 1949, Van der Waerden became member of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]], in 1951 this was changed to a foreign membership.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00003703 |title=Bartel Leendert van der Waerden (1903–1996) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=8 June 2020}}</ref> In 1973 he received the ''[[Pour le Mérite]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/mitglieder/bartel-leendert-van-der-waerden |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608194839/http://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/mitglieder/bartel-leendert-van-der-waerden |title=Bartel Leendert van der Waerden |language=de |publisher=Orden Pour le Mérite |archive-date=8 June 2020}}</ref>

==Contributions==
Van der Waerden is mainly remembered for his work on [[abstract algebra]]. He also wrote on [[algebraic geometry]], [[topology]], [[number theory]], [[geometry]], [[combinatorics]], [[mathematical analysis|analysis]], [[probability]] and [[statistics]], and [[quantum mechanics]] (he and Heisenberg had been colleagues at Leipzig). In later years, he turned to the [[history of mathematics]] and [[History of science|science]]. His historical writings include ''Ontwakende wetenschap'' (1950), which was translated into English as ''Science Awakening'' (1954),<ref>{{cite journal|author=Sarton, George|author-link=George Sarton|journal=Isis|volume=46|number=4|pages=368–369|title=Review of ''Science Awakening'' by B. L. Van der Waerden, translated by Arnold Dresden|date=December 1955|doi=10.1086/348434}}</ref> ''Sources of Quantum Mechanics'' (1967),<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1063/1.3035086|title=Review of ''Sources of Quantum Mechanics'' edited with a 59-page historical introduction by B. L. van der Waerden|year=1968|author=Weber, Robert L.|journal=Physics Today|volume=21|issue=7|page=97}}</ref> ''Geometry and Algebra in Ancient Civilizations'' (1983), and ''A History of Algebra'' (1985).<ref>{{cite journal | last=Winter | first=David J. | title=A History of Algebra . By B. L. van der Waerden | journal=The American Mathematical Monthly | volume=95 | issue=8 | date=1988 | doi=10.1080/00029890.1988.11972088 | pages=781–785}}</ref>

Van der Waerden has over 1000 [[academic genealogy|academic descendants]], most of them through three of his students, [[David van Dantzig]] (Ph.D. Groningen 1931), [[Herbert Seifert]] (Ph.D. Leipzig 1932), and Hans Richter (Ph.D. Leipzig 1936, co-advised by [[Paul Koebe]]).<ref name=math/>

==See also==
{{Div col}}
*[[Van der Waerden notation]]
*[[Van der Waerden number]]
*[[Van der Waerden's conjecture]]
*[[Van der Waerden's theorem]]
*[[Van der Waerden test]]
{{Div col end}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* [[Alexander Soifer]] (2009), ''[[The Mathematical Coloring Book]]'', Springer-Verlag {{ISBN|978-0-387-74640-1}}. Soifer devotes four chapters and over 100 pages to biographical material about van der Waerden, some of which he had also published earlier in the journal ''[[Geombinatorics]]''.
* Alexander Soifer (2015) ''The Scholar and the State: In Search of Van der Waerden'', [[Springer books]] {{ISBN|978-3-0348-0711-1}}

==Further reading==
*Schlote, K.-H., 2005, "Moderne Algebra" in [[Ivor Grattan-Guinness|Grattan-Guinness, I.]], ed., ''Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics''. Elsevier: 901–16.
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Van_der_Waerden}}
*{{cite journal | last = Dold-Samplonius | first = Yvonne |date=March 1997 | title = Interview with Bartel Leendert van Der Waerden (conducted in 1993) | journal = [[Notices of the American Mathematical Society]] | volume = 44 | issue = 3 | pages = 313–320 | url = https://www.ams.org/notices/199703/interview.pdf }}
* [[Hans Freudenthal|Freudenthal, H.]], 1962, [http://projecteuclid.org/euclid.bams/1183524913 "Review: B. L. van der Waerden, ''Science Awakening''"] in ''Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.'', '''68''' (6):543–45.

==External links==
*{{MathGenealogy |id=30607}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waerden, Bartel Leendert Van Der}}
[[Category:20th-century Dutch mathematicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Dutch historians]]
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:Algebraists]]
[[Category:Combinatorialists]]
[[Category:Historians of mathematics]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Leipzig University]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]]
[[Category:Scientists from Amsterdam]]
[[Category:University of Amsterdam alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam]]
[[Category:University of Göttingen alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Zurich]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Cothenius Medal]]