Ernst Zermelo (eBook)

Preface 6
Contents 10
1 Berlin 1871– 1897 14
1.1 Family and Youth 14
1.2 School and University Studies 18
1.3 Ph. D. Thesis and the Calculus of Variations 23
1.4 The Boltzmann Controversy 28
2 Göttingen 1897– 1910 40
2.1 Introduction 40
2.2 Working in Applied Mathematics 41
2.3 First Years as a Privatdozent in Göttingen 46
2.4 The Context: Hilbert’s Research on Foundations 49
2.5 Starting Set Theory 60
2.6 Zermelo’s First Well-Ordering Proof 66
2.7 Finite Sets 74
2.8 The New Proof Paper 78
2.9 The Axiomatization of Set Theory 89
2.10 The Institutionalization of Mathematical Logic 105
2.11 Waiting for a Professorship 118
3 Zurich 1910– 1921 126
3.1 A Full Professorship 126
3.2 Colleagues and a Friend 138
3.3 Teaching in Zurich 141
3.4 Scientific Work in Zurich 142
3.5 The Fraenkel Correspondence of 1921 and the Axiom of Replacement 148
4 Freiburg 1921– 1953 152
4.1 A New Start 152
4.2 Research in Applied Mathematics 161
4.3 The Return to the Foundations of Mathematics 166
4.4 Warsaw 1929 178
4.5 Foundational Controversies: An Introduction 188
4.6 Definiteness Revisited 192
4.7 The Cumulative Hierarchy 199
4.8 The Skolem Controversy 209
4.9 Infinitary Languages and Infinitary Logic 217
4.10 The Gödel Controversy 225
4.11 The Loss of the Honorary Professorship 232
4.12 Retreat 249
4.13 Twilight of Life 262
5 A Final Word 272
6 Zermelo’s Curriculum Vitae 276
7 Appendix Selected Original Versions 285
7.1 Berlin 285
7.2 Göttingen 286
7.3 Zurich 294
7.4 Freiburg 299
References 319
Index 351