Joseph Ehrenfried Hofmann


Joseph Ehrenfried Hofmann was a German historian of mathematics, known for his research on Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

Life and work

After graduating from high school in 1919 at the Wilhelm Gymnasium in Munich, Hofmann studied at University of Munich with Walther von Dyck and George Faber, gaining Ph.D. in 1927. He was briefly an assistant in Munich and Darmstadt, before he went into the teaching profession in Gunzburg, Nördlingen.
As a student he was drawn to the history of mathematics after observing his mentor Faber publishing works of Euler. Another influence was Henry Wieleitner, with whom he published several works on the history of calculus. As a school teacher, he continued his historical studies. In 1939 he habilitated in the history of mathematics at the University of Berlin.
From 1940 to 1945 he edited an edition of the works of Leibnitz for the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Hofmann returned to secondary education in Gunzburg from 1947 until his retirement in 1963. He also had professor of the History of Mathematics at the Albert Ludwig's University of Freiburg, the Humboldt University of Berlin, the Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen and the Technical University of Karlsruhe.
Hofmann organized regular symposia on the history of mathematics at the Mathematical Research Institute of Oberwolfach, where he worked right after the war. Hofmann was considered an expert in the development of calculus by Leibniz, whose time in Paris he studied carefully. He recorded how the Newton-Leibniz calculus controversy contributed to the invention of calculus.
He was co-editor of the works of Leibniz, of Nicholas of Cusa, and of Johann Bernoulli as well as a mathematical history of Abraham Gotthelf Kästner. He also wrote about number theory of Leonhard Euler and Pierre de Fermat. He uncovered some new works of Fermat.
Out for a morning walk, he was killed by a vehicular hit and run.

Writings

with Oskar Becker : History of Mathematics, Bonn, Atheneum Publishing, 1951