Egbert Brieskorn was professor of mathematics in Göttingen and Bonn and visiting professor at a number of foreign universities. Among mathematicians he was known for his fundamental contributions to the singularity theory of complex hypersurfaces. In Bonn he initiated the project "Felix Hausdorff - Gesammelte Werke"(10 volumes, 2001-2020) and served as head of the group of five editors responsible for the complete edition. For many years he worked on a biography of Hausdorff, which was to appear in the Hausdorff edition, though only about half of it was completed at the time of his death. Brieskorn was also the author of original and successful textbooks. He devoted decades of work to ecology and species conservation, for which he received the Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Walter Purkert was professor of the history of mathematics in Leipzig and visiting professor in Wuppertal. He later taught historyof mathematics in Bonn, where as a starting point for the Hausdorff editorial project, he published a finding aid with descriptions of the contents of Hausdorff's extensive estate. Thereafter, he served full-time as coordinator of the edition, overseeing the work of its editors, while contributing to a number of the volumes. After Egbert Brieskorn's death, he spent several years completing their Hausdorff biography, published in 2018 as Volume IB of the edition. Purkert also wrote a well-received biography of Georg Cantor. He is a corresponding member of the Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences in Paris.

Gut geschriebene, lebhafte Biographie von Felix Hausdorff

Geht auch auf sein Werk als Philosoph und Literat ein - als Paul Mongré

Stellt das Leben und Schaffen eines der bedeutendsten Denkers des 20. Jahrhunderts anschaulich dar

Vorwort.- Hinweise für den Leser.- Teil I Felix Hausdorffs Weg zur Mathematik.- 1 Hausdorffs Kindheit und Jugend bis zum Abitur.- Felix Hausdorrfs Studienjahre.- 3 Felix Hausdroff als Astronom.- 4 Der Beginn als Mathematiker.- Teil LL Eine Doppelexistenz: Der Mathematiker Felix Hausdorff und der Philosoph und Literat Paul Mongré.- 5 Der Philosoph Paul Mongré.- 6 Der Literat und zeitkritische Essayist Paul Mongré.- 7 Die Mathematik gewinnt die Priorität.- Teil III Hausdorff als etablierter Mathermatiker.- 8 Extraordinarius in Bonn.- 9 Ordinarius in Greifswald.- 10 Die Jahre in Bonn bis 1933.- 11 Hausdorff unter der Nationalsozialistischen Diktatur.- Bildteil.- Literaturverzeichnis.