David van Dantzig

David van Dantzig ( born September 23, 1900 in Rotterdam, † July 22, 1959 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch mathematician.

Van Dantzig published his first mathematical work in 1913 as a student. For financial reasons, he had to interrupt his schooling and was able to study at the University of Amsterdam until about 1923, after attending evening schools. In 1927 he was an assistant of Jan Arnoldus Schouten at the University of Delft, was then in teacher education and from 1932 professor in Delft after. Received his doctorate in 1931 at the University of Groningen in Bartel Leendert van der Waerden (Studies in topological algebra) In 1938 he was associate professor at the University of Delft, 1940, he was a professor there, but was released the same year after the German occupation of the Netherlands. He moved to Amsterdam, where he in 1946 professor at the University of Amsterdam after the war, where he was also a co-founder of the Mathematical Centre.

He worked mainly on topological algebra. In addition, he also dealt with differential geometry, electrodynamics, thermodynamics, and after the Second World War with probability theory and special statistical decision theory.

Van Dantzig introduced the example of a topological group, the dyadic solenoid. The group elements can be described by infinite sequences q0, q1, q2, ..., represent complex numbers on the unit circle qi, applies to the for i > 0: qi2 = qi -1. The multiplication is performed componentwise. The Dyadic solenoid is an indecomposable continuum example (in the sense of Brouwer ).

In 1954 he gave a plenary lecture at the International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM ) in Amsterdam, about mathematical problems that resulted from the floods of 1953 in the Netherlands. At this he also continued working with his student and assistant in January Hemelrijk.