“Not in possession of any Weltanschauung”: Neugebauer’s flight from Nazi politics and his search for objectivity in mathematics, mathematical reviewing, and history

Foredrag på engelsk af, talk by, prof. Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze, Agder Universitet, Norge.

The main thesis of this talk is that Neugebauer, acting in an age of extremist ideologies and dictatorships, tried to maintain and expand the rationalistic and internationalist ideals long associated with Göttingen science and mathematics, and that this commitment was central both in his organizational work and in his approach to history. A useful interpretative scheme in this context is provided by Paul Forman’s influential article (1971) on Weimar culture, although the argument there has to be specified for the case of Neugebauer, who stood between the scientific and humanistic cultures. By underlining certain apparent and real contradictions and divergent tendencies in Neugebauer’s activities, while taking note of his disillusionments as he grew older, the talk will try to draw tentative conclusions and offer suggestive explanations to account for these. By so doing, it also aims to explain some apparent inconsistencies in Neugebauer’s statements about his own “world view”.

https://www.uia.no/kk/profil/reinhars