Ruth Moufang
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Ruth Moufang (1905–1977) was a German mathematician.
Born on January 10th, 1905 in Darmstadt, Germany to the German chemist Dr. Eduard Moufang, she studied mathematics at the University of Frankfurt. In 1931 she received her Ph.D. on projective geometry under the direction of Max Dehn, and in 1932 spent a fellowship year in Rome. After her year in Rome, she returned to Germany to lecture at the University of Konigsberg and the University of Frankfurt. Her research in projective geometry built upon the work of David Hilbert. She was responsible for ground-breaking work on non-associative algebraic structures, including the Moufang loops named after her.
Her most important contribution to the foundations of geometry was the discovery that by replacing the incidence theorem of Desargues with the theorem of the complete quadrilateral (also known as the invariance of the fourth harmonic point) together with the incidence axioms of Hilbert, you obtain an alternative division algebra instead of a skew field.
Denied permission to teach by Hitler's minister of education, she worked in private industry until 1946, when she became the first woman professor at the University of Frankfurt.
[edit] References
- O'Connor, John J. & Robertson, Edmund F., “Ruth Moufang”, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
- Ruth Moufang at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
