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Paul Isaac Bernays

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Paul Isaac Bernays

Birth
London, City of London, Greater London, England
Death
18 Sep 1977 (aged 88)
Zürich, Bezirk Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Burial
Cremated Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Paul Isaac Bernays (17 October 1888 – 18 September 1977) was a Swiss mathematician, who made significant contributions to mathematical logic, axiomatic set theory, and the philosophy of mathematics. He was an assistant and close collaborator of David Hilbert.

Bernays was born into a distinguished German-Jewish family of scholars and businessmen. His great-grandfather, Isaac ben Jacob Bernays, served as chief rabbi of Hamburg from 1821 to 1849.

Bernays spent his childhood in Berlin, and attended the Köllner Gymnasium, 1895–1907. At the University of Berlin, he studied mathematics under Issai Schur, Edmund Landau, Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, and Friedrich Schottky; philosophy under Alois Riehl, Carl Stumpf and Ernst Cassirer; and physics under Max Planck. At the University of Göttingen, he studied mathematics under David Hilbert, Edmund Landau, Hermann Weyl, and Felix Klein; physics under Voigt and Max Born; and philosophy under Leonard Nelson.

In 1912, the University of Berlin awarded him a Ph.D. in mathematics, for a thesis, supervised by Landau, on the analytic number theory of binary quadratic forms. That same year, the University of Zurich awarded him the Habilitation for a thesis on complex analysis and Picard's theorem. The examiner was Ernst Zermelo. Bernays was Privatdozent at the University of Zurich, 1912–17, where he came to know George Pólya.

Starting in 1917, David Hilbert employed Bernays to assist him with his investigations of the foundations of arithmetic. Bernays also lectured on other areas of mathematics at the University of Göttingen. In 1918, that university awarded him a second Habilitation, for a thesis on the axiomatics of the propositional calculus of Principia Mathematica.

In 1922, Göttingen appointed Bernays extraordinary professor without tenure. His most successful student there was Gerhard Gentzen. After the passing of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service in 1933, he was dismissed from this post because of his Jewish ancestry. After working privately for Hilbert for six months, Bernays and his family moved to Switzerland, whose nationality he had inherited from his father, and where the ETH employed him on occasion. He also visited the University of Pennsylvania and was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1935–36 and again in 1959–60.
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Jacob Gera Bernays (1747-1847) 182473902 & 179589811 Isaac Bernays (1792–1849), German rabbi, son of Jacob Gera Bernays.
Louis Bernays, son of Isaac Bernays
Jules Bernays, son of Louis Bernays
Paul Bernays (1888–1977), Swiss mathematician, born in London; great-grandson of Isaac Bernays.

Cousin & nephew of Sigmund Freud #32124317 Edward Bernays was born to a Jewish family, the son of Ely Bernays and Anna Freud Bernays. His great grandfather was Isaac Bernays, chief rabbi of Hamburg. Bernays was a "double nephew" of Viennese psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud—by virtue of his mother, Freud's sister, and of his father's sister, Martha Bernays Freud, who married Sigmund.
Paul Isaac Bernays (17 October 1888 – 18 September 1977) was a Swiss mathematician, who made significant contributions to mathematical logic, axiomatic set theory, and the philosophy of mathematics. He was an assistant and close collaborator of David Hilbert.

Bernays was born into a distinguished German-Jewish family of scholars and businessmen. His great-grandfather, Isaac ben Jacob Bernays, served as chief rabbi of Hamburg from 1821 to 1849.

Bernays spent his childhood in Berlin, and attended the Köllner Gymnasium, 1895–1907. At the University of Berlin, he studied mathematics under Issai Schur, Edmund Landau, Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, and Friedrich Schottky; philosophy under Alois Riehl, Carl Stumpf and Ernst Cassirer; and physics under Max Planck. At the University of Göttingen, he studied mathematics under David Hilbert, Edmund Landau, Hermann Weyl, and Felix Klein; physics under Voigt and Max Born; and philosophy under Leonard Nelson.

In 1912, the University of Berlin awarded him a Ph.D. in mathematics, for a thesis, supervised by Landau, on the analytic number theory of binary quadratic forms. That same year, the University of Zurich awarded him the Habilitation for a thesis on complex analysis and Picard's theorem. The examiner was Ernst Zermelo. Bernays was Privatdozent at the University of Zurich, 1912–17, where he came to know George Pólya.

Starting in 1917, David Hilbert employed Bernays to assist him with his investigations of the foundations of arithmetic. Bernays also lectured on other areas of mathematics at the University of Göttingen. In 1918, that university awarded him a second Habilitation, for a thesis on the axiomatics of the propositional calculus of Principia Mathematica.

In 1922, Göttingen appointed Bernays extraordinary professor without tenure. His most successful student there was Gerhard Gentzen. After the passing of the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service in 1933, he was dismissed from this post because of his Jewish ancestry. After working privately for Hilbert for six months, Bernays and his family moved to Switzerland, whose nationality he had inherited from his father, and where the ETH employed him on occasion. He also visited the University of Pennsylvania and was a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1935–36 and again in 1959–60.
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Jacob Gera Bernays (1747-1847) 182473902 & 179589811 Isaac Bernays (1792–1849), German rabbi, son of Jacob Gera Bernays.
Louis Bernays, son of Isaac Bernays
Jules Bernays, son of Louis Bernays
Paul Bernays (1888–1977), Swiss mathematician, born in London; great-grandson of Isaac Bernays.

Cousin & nephew of Sigmund Freud #32124317 Edward Bernays was born to a Jewish family, the son of Ely Bernays and Anna Freud Bernays. His great grandfather was Isaac Bernays, chief rabbi of Hamburg. Bernays was a "double nephew" of Viennese psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud—by virtue of his mother, Freud's sister, and of his father's sister, Martha Bernays Freud, who married Sigmund.

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