Rolf Herman Nevanlinna (October 22, 1895 – May 28, 1980) is one of the most famous Finnish mathematicians. He was particularly appreciated for his work in theory of functions (i.e., complex analysis). Apart from mathematics, Nevanlinna took great interest in culture and politics. He was a member of the Patriotic People's Movement and also a member of the Finnish pro-German movement. His mother was German.

In an interview in the USA in 1934 Hermann Weyl (whose wife was Jewish) called him a "Finnish Nazi".[1] In World War II he supported the idea of Finnish volunteers and eventually became chairman of the Committee for the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS.[1] He became rector of the University of Helsinki in 1941, but was forced to step down at the conclusion of the war.

The Rolf Nevanlinna Prize, established in 1981, and the 1679 Nevanlinna main belt asteroid are named after him.

Biography

* Olli Lehto; Manfred Stern [translator], Erhabene Welten: Das Leben Rolf Nevanlinnas (Birkhäuser, 2008) ISBN 978-3-7643-7701-4

References

1. ^ a b Lehto, Olli: Korkeat maailmat. Rolf Nevanlinnan elämä. Otava, 2001.

External links

* O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Rolf Nevanlinna", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Nevanlinna.html .
* Rolf Nevanlinna at the Mathematics Genealogy Project