Difference between revisions of "Abraham Fraenkel"

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Abraham Halevi (Adolf) Fraenkel (Hebrew: אברהם הלוי (אדולף) פרנקל‎‎; February 17, 1891 – October 15, 1965), known as Abraham Fraenkel, was a German-born Israeli mathematician.

He was an early Zionist and the first Dean of Mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He is known for his contributions to axiomatic set theory, especially his addition to Ernst Zermelo's axioms which resulted in Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory.

Mathematics

Fraenkel's early work was on Kurt Hensel's p-adic numbers and on the theory of rings.

He is best known for his work on axiomatic set theory, publishing his first major work on the topic ("Einleitung in die Mengenlehre") in 1919. In 1922 and 1925, he published two papers that sought to improve Zermelo's axiomatic system; the result is Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory.

Fraenkel worked in set theory and foundational mathematics.

Fraenkel also was interested in the history of mathematics, writing in 1920 and 1930 about Gauss's works in algebra, and he published a biography of Georg Cantor.

After retiring from the Hebrew University and being succeeded by his former student Abraham Robinson, Fraenkel continued teaching at the Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan (near Tel Aviv).

See also

• Axiomatic set theory
• Foundations of Mathematics
• Set theory

External links

• Abraham Fraenkel @ Wikipedia