German mathematicians in exile in Turkey: Richard von Mises, William Prager, Hilda Geiringer, and their impact on Turkish mathematics

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hm.2012.07.002

There is a sizable and growing literature on scholars who fled from the Nazi regime, a literature which often focuses on the periods before leaving Germany and after settling permanently in the USA, but relatively less work on the interim period in which many of them found temporary homes in countries such as Turkey. In this article we would like to discuss the scholarly work, activities and the impact of mathematicians Richard von Mises, William Prager and Hilda Geiringer during their stay in Turkey. We argue that the establishment and the development of applied mathematics and mechanics in Turkey owe much to them.