Name Felix Bernstein Alma mater University of Gottingen | Role Mathematician | |
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Born 24 February 1878Halle ( 1878-02-24 ) Theses Untersuchungen aus der Mengenlehre (1901)Uber den Klassenkorper eines algebraischen Zahlkorpers (1903) Doctoral students Paul Beck, Martin Gauger, Ruth Heidemann, Hermann Hitzler, Siegfried Koller, Alfred Muller, Hans Munzner, Werner Rups, Walter Schwarzburg, Hans Thunsdorff Known for Schroder-Bernstein theorem Children Marianne Bernstein-Wiener Died December 3, 1956, Zurich, Switzerland | ||
Felix Bernstein (24 February 1878, Halle, Germany – 3 December 1956, Zurich, Switzerland), was a German Jewish mathematician known for proving the Schroder–Bernstein theorem central in set theory in 1896, and less well known for demonstrating the correct blood group inheritance pattern of multiple alleles at one locus in 1924 through statistical analysis.
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Life
While still in gymnasium in Halle, Bernstein heard the university seminar of Georg Cantor, who was a friend of Bernstein's father Julius. From 1896 to 1900, Bernstein studied in Munich, Halle, Berlin and Gottingen. In the early Weimar Republic, Bernstein temporarily was Gottingen vice-chairman of the German Democratic Party. In 1933, after Hitler's rise to power, Bernstein was deprived from his chair, per §6 of the Nazi Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, often used against politically unpopular persons. He received the message of his dismissal during a research/lecturing journey (started on Dec. 1st, 1932) to the USA, and he stayed there. In 1948, Bernstein retired from teaching in the USA, and returned to Europe. He mainly lived in Rome and Freiburg, occasionally visiting Gottingen, where he became professor emeritus. He died of cancer in Zurich on 3 December 1956.