Wolfgang Haack

Wolfgang Siegfried Haack
Wolfgang Haack, around 1970 in Oberwolfach
Born	(1902-04-24)April 24, 1902 Gotha
Died	November 28, 1994(1994-11-28) (aged 92) Berlin
Citizenship	Germany
Education	MSc, PhD, Dr. habil.
Alma mater	University of Hanover, University of Jena
Occupation	scientist, researcher, professor of mathematics and mechanics, professor of numerical mathematics
Known for	mechanical engineering, mathematics, aerodynamics

Wolfgang Siegfried Haack (April 24, 1902 – November 28, 1994) was a German mathematician and aerodynamicist. He in 1941 and William Sears in 1947 independently discovered the Sears–Haack body.

Wolfgang Haack studied mechanical engineering at the University of Hanover and mathematics in Jena. He earned his doctorate in 1926 at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. After a short study and research period in Hamburg and a job as an assistant at the Technical University of Stuttgart he habilitated in 1929 at the TH Danzig (now Gdańsk). In 1935 he moved to the TH Berlin and in 1937, he followed the call to the TH Karlsruhe. During the Second World War he worked on projectile design. Although the TH Berlin did invite him to work there in 1944, Wolfgang Haack was unable to take up the post because of the war. In 1949 he became the successor to Georg Hamel as Professor of Mathematics and Mechanics at the TU Berlin Department of Mathematics and Mechanics. On his initiative a new Department of Computational Mathematics was founded in 1964, which he held until his retirement in 1968. In 1992 Haack was appointed as an honorary member of the Society for Applied Mathematics and Mechanics. In 1964 Haack was called to the new chair for numerical mathematics, a position he was to hold until being given emeritus status in 1968.

The interaction of Wolfgang Haack is at the interface between mathematics and mechanics. His research areas ranging from the mechanics of differential geometry and partial differential equations to numerical mathematics. In particular, he dealt with both elliptical and with hyperbolic partial differential equations of the first order. Coming from differential geometry, Pfaff's differential forms were always of special concern to him. As an engineer, he was always focussed on applied research, such as gas dynamics in supersonic flows. During his time in Berlin, he supervised over a dozen dissertations.