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Bartel Leendert van der Waerden

Bartel Leendert van der Waerden
Born (1903-02-02)February 2, 1903
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Died January 12, 1996(1996-01-12) (aged 92)
Zürich, Switzerland
Nationality Dutch
Fields Mathematics
Institutions University of Leipzig
University of Zurich
University of Groningen
Alma mater University of Amsterdam
University of Göttingen
Doctoral advisor Hendrik de Vries
Doctoral students David van Dantzig
Herbert Seifert
Known for Van der Waerden notation
Van der Waerden number
Van der Waerden's theorem
Van der Waerden test
Van der Waerden's conjecture

Bartel Leendert van der Waerden (Dutch: [vɑn dər ˈʋaːrdə(n)]; February 2, 1903 – January 12, 1996) was a Dutch mathematician and historian of mathematics.

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. Göttingen awarded him the habilitation in 1928. In that year, at the age of 25, he accepted a professorship at the University of Groningen.

In his 27th year, 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.

During the rise of the Third Reich and through World War II, van der Waerden remained at Leipzig, and passed up opportunities to leave Nazi Germany for Princeton and Utrecht. However, he was critical of the Nazis and refused to give up his Dutch nationality, both of which led to difficulties for him.


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