Research Catalog

Title

Iris Runge : a life at the crossroads of mathematics, science, and industry / Renate Tobies ; with a foreword by Helmut Neunzert ; revised by the author and translated by Valentine A. Pakis.

Author

Tobies, Renate.

Publication

Basel : Birkhäuser, c2012.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xxii, 442 p., 16 p. of plates : ill.; 25 cm.

Summary

This book concerns the origins of mathematical problem solving at the internationally active Osram and Telefunken Corporations during the golden years of broadcasting and electron tube research. The woman scientist Iris Runge, who received an interdisciplinary education at the University of Göttingen, was long employed as the sole mathematical authority at these companies in Berlin. It will be shown how mathematical connections were made between statistics and quality control, and between physical-chemical models and the actual problems of mass production. The organization of industrial laboratories, the relationship between theoretical and experimental work, and the role of mathematicians in these settings will also be explained. By investigating the social, economic, and political conditions that unfolded from the time of the German Empire until the end of the Second World War, the book hopes to build a bridge between specialized fields – mathematics and engineering – and the general culture of a particular era. It hopes, furthermore, 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. Finally, by examining the life and work of numerous industrial researchers, insight will be offered into the conditions that enabled a woman to achieve a prominent professional position during a time when women were typically excluded from the scientific workforce.

Series Statement

Science networks. historical studies ; Volume 43

Uniform Title

• Morgen möchte ich wieder 100 herrliche Sachen ausrechnen. English
• Science networks historical studies v. 43.

Alternative Title

• Morgen möchte ich wieder 100 herrliche Sachen ausrechnen.
• Life at the crossroads of mathematics, science, and industry

Subject

• Runge, Iris, 1888-1966
• Women mathematicians > Germany > Biography
• Mathematicians > Germany > Biography
• Mathematics
• Science > History

Note

• "Originally published in German under the title: Morgen mo·chte ich wieder 100 herrliche Sachen ausrechnen." Iris Runge bei Osram und Telefunken (Boethius, Vol. 61). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag 2010"--T.p. verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

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

9783034802291 (English edition : hd.bd.)

OCLC

778324261

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library