Käte Fenchel


Käte Fenchel née Kate Sperling (1905 - 1983) Jewish German mathematician, best known for her work on non-abelian groupsMathworldPlanetmath.

Born in Berlin of a newspaper reporter and a bookkeeper, young Käte learned to read and write sooner than most children, and after skipping a few grades, was given scholarships to attend private school. She faced some gender discrimination in attempting to completePlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmathPlanetmath her studies in pure mathematics at the University of Berlin, and went into mathematics education as a fallback at first. As Adolf Hitler came to power, she lost her job and married Werner Fenchel, also a Jew. The newlyweds escaped to Denmark, where she helped other German Jews escape Nazi persecution. But when Denmark was occupied by the Nazis, they had to flee to Sweden. After the war, the Fenchels returned to Denmark, but Käte did not publish any papers until two in 1962, and another in 1978.

References

  • 1 E. Høyrup “Käte Fenchel” in Women of Mathematics: A Bibliographic Sourcebook L. Grinstein, P. Cambpell, ed.s New York: Greenwood Press (1987): 30 - 32
Title Käte Fenchel
Canonical name KateFenchel
Date of creation 2013-03-22 16:50:21
Last modified on 2013-03-22 16:50:21
Owner Mravinci (12996)
Last modified by Mravinci (12996)
Numerical id 5
Author Mravinci (12996)
Entry type Biography
Classification msc 01A60
Synonym Kate Fenchel
Synonym Kate Sperling
Synonym Käte Sperling