Iris Runge: a life at the crossroads of mathematics, science and industry

The book deals with the origins of mathematical problem solving at the international Osram and Telefunken corporations during the golden years of broadcasting and vacuum tubes. The woman scientist Iris Runge, educated at Göttingen University with a broad interdisciplinary background, was long employed as the sole mathematical authority at these companies in Berlin. It will be shown how a mathematical bridge was constructed between statistics and quality control of mass products, and between physical-chemical models and concrete product problems. The structure of industrial laboratories, the relation between theoretical and experimental work and the role of mathematicians in these settings will be explained. By investigating the social, economic, and political conditions that unfolded from the time of the German Empire until the end of the SecondWorld War, the book hopes to build a bridge between specialized fields – mathematics and engineering – and the general culture of this particular era. The book also hopes to build a bridge between the history of science and industry,on the one hand, and the fields of Gender and Women’s Studies on the other. By examining the life and work of many industrial researchers, insight can be gained into the conditions that enabled a woman to achieve a prominent professional position. The book illuminates the beginnings of industrial mathematics and its international context, the history of the application of mathematical statistics, and the use of numerical and graphical methods in filament bulb and electron tube laboratories. Using many original sources, the book provides a comprehensive illustration of a woman scientist (the eldest daughter of the famous mathematician Carl Runge, and the sister-in-law of Richard Courant) who wrote her first publication as a student with the theoretical physicist Arnold Sommerfeld.Not only did she work enthusiastically in the field of applied mathematics, but she also developed and maintained counter-cultural social attitudes during periods of political unrest. The book shows how the international center of mathematics and natural sciences at Göttingen University was established by Felix Klein and how it established the foundation for using and developing new mathematical methods for the benefit of such fields as electrical engineering andphysical chemistry. The book sheds new light on the history of the electricalindustry – especially vacuum tube laboratories – and on the interdisciplinarycollaboration between mathematicians, physicists, chemists and electrical engineers; on history of secondary and higher education in Germany; and on the process of emigration during the Nazi era. INDICE: Foreword. Author’s Preface. 1 Introduction. 2 Formative Groups. 3 Mathematics at The Osram and Telefunken Corporations. 4 Interactions Between Science, Politics, And Society. 5 Post-War Developments And Concluding Remarks.Appendix. Bibliography. Index of Names.

• ISBN: 978-3-0348-0229-1
• Editorial: Springer Basel
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 462
• Fecha Publicación: 12/12/2011
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés