Jacques Feldbau
| Jacques Feldbau | |
|---|---|
| Born |
22 October 1914 Straßburg, Alsace-Lorraine, German Empire (today Strasbourg, Alsace, France) |
| Died | 22 April 1945 (aged 30) Bavarian concentration camp of Ganacker, Germany |
| Nationality | French |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Alma mater | University of Straßburg |
| Doctoral advisor | Charles Ehresmann |
| Known for | Feldbau's theorem: a fiber bundle over a simplex is trivializable |
Jacques Feldbau was a French mathematician, born on 22 October 1914 in Strasbourg, of an Alsatian Jewish traditionalist family. He died on 22 April 1945 at the Ganacker Camp, annex of the concentration camp of Flossenbürg in Germany. As a mathematician he worked on differential geometry and topology. He was the very first student of Charles Ehresmann.
He is known as one of the founders of the theory of fiber bundles. He is the one who first proved that a fiber bundle over a simplex is trivializable and who used this to classify bundles over spheres.
In a paper, written together with Ehresmann, he introduced the notion of an associated bundle and proved results known today as the exact homotopy sequence of a fibration.
Described by Michèle Audin as "a handsome young man with a very friendly and likeable personality" he demonstrated an early interest in mathematics, whilst also being enthusiastic about music and sport. He studied at the Lycée Fustel de Coulanges in Strasbourg, receiving his High School Diploma in 1932, and then he started preparatory classes at Lycée Kléber. He applied for the École normale supérieure but refused to present himself on Saturday (the Jewish sabbath), and so was not allowed to continue. He enrolled at the University of Strasbourg in 1934, where he was librarian of the Institute of Mathematics in 1935. He joined the CNRS and began preparing a PhD under the direction of Charles Ehresmann in 1939. He was also a pianist and swimmer becoming a University butterfly-stroke champion in 1939. By the age 30, Feldbau was participating in a "defence group against anti-Semitism."
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