Veblen, Oswald

Oswald Veblen, (born June 24, 1880, Decorah, Iowa, U.S.—died August 10, 1960, Brooklin, Maine), American mathematician who made important contributions to differential geometry and the early development of topology. Many of his contributions found application in atomic physics and the theory of relativity.

Veblen graduated from the University of Iowa in 1898. He spent a year at Harvard University before moving to the University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1903). He taught mathematics at Princeton University (1905–32) and was appointed a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, when it opened in 1932. Veblen played a key role in the formation and research direction of the school of mathematics at the institute. He became professor emeritus in 1950.

From the beginning of his research career, Veblen was interested in the foundations of mathematics. His thesis concerned the axiomatization of Euclidean geometry and had implications in the study of mathematical logic. This began his study of axiom systems in projective geometry, which culminated in the highly acclaimed Projective Geometry, 2 vol. (1910–18), in collaboration with John Wesley Young.

Veblen’s Analysis Situs (1922) was the first book to cover the basic ideas of topology systematically. It was his most influential work and for many years the best available topology text. Veblen also laid the foundations for topological research at Princeton.

Soon after the discovery of general relativity, Veblen turned to differential geometry and took a leading part in the development of generalized affine and projective geometry. His work The Invariants of Quadratic Differential Forms (1927) is distinguished by precise and systematic treatment of the basic properties of Riemannian geometry. In collaboration with his brilliant student John Henry Whitehead, Veblen extended the knowledge of the Riemann metric for more general cases in The Foundations of Differential Geometry (1932).

Veblen’s belief that “the foundations of geometry must be studied both as a branch of physics and as a branch of mathematics” quite naturally led him to the study of relativity and the search for a geometric structure to form a field theory unifying gravitation and electromagnetism. With respect to the Kaluza-Klein field theory, which involved field equations in five-dimensional space, he provided the first physical interpretation of the fifth coordinate. By regarding the coordinate as a gauge variable (see gauge theory), he was able to interpret the theory as one involving four-dimensional space-time. In connection with this contribution, Veblen provided a new treatment of spinors (expressions used to represent electron spin) that he summarized in Projektive Relativitätstheorie (1933; “Projective Relativity Theory”).

Veblen was notable in his efforts to aid German mathematicians displaced by the Nazi regime. These activities, combined with his tremendous influence in encouraging and developing young mathematicians, represent a contribution equal to that of his mathematical innovations.