Tatyana Afanasyeva
Tatyana Alexeyevna Afanasyeva (Russian: Татья́на Алексе́евна Афана́сьева) (
Early life
Afanasyeva was born in
Tatyana attended
At the University of Göttingen, Tatyana met Paul Ehrenfest. When Ehrenfest discovered that Tatyana could not attend a mathematics club meeting, he argued with the school to have the rule changed. A friendship developed between the two, and they married in 1904, later returned to
In 1912 they moved to Leiden in the Netherlands, where Paul Ehrenfest was appointed to succeed Hendrik Lorentz as professor at the University of Leiden,[3] and where the couple lived throughout their career.
Works in mathematics and physics
Initially, Tatyana collaborated closely with her husband, most famously on their classic 1911 review of the statistical mechanics of Boltzmann.[4] The Conceptual Foundations of the Statistical Approach in Mechanics, by Paul and Tatyana Ehrenfest was originally published in 1911 as an article for the German Encyklopädie der mathematischen Wissenschaften (Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences), and has since been translated and republished.
She published many papers on various topics such as randomness[5] and entropy,[6] and teaching geometry to children.[7][8]
Contact with Einstein
Albert Einstein was a frequent guest in the 1920s to her home at Witte Rozenstraat 57 in Leiden , as evidenced by the many signatures on the wall. Later Einstein departed for Princeton University and Afanasyeva corresponded. The archives of Museum Boerhaave in Leiden has three letters to her from Einstein.[9]
Afanasjeva contacted Einstein for his advice on her manuscript on thermodynamics and inquired about a translator. She wanted to give thermodynamics a rigorous mathematical foundation which was lacking and describe pressure, temperature and entropy in changing systems. Einstein responded on 12 August 1947 that he applauded her approach but he also had some criticisms:
- "Ich habe den Eindruck gewonnen, dass Sie ein bisschen von logischen Putzteufel besessen sind, und dass daran die Übersichtlichkeit des Buches leide."
- (Translation: I have got the impression, that you are possessed somewhat by a logical polishing devil, and that the clarity of the book suffers.)
Einstein did not suggest a translator and sent the manuscript back to Afanasjeva who paid herself for its publication in 1956 as Die Grundlagen der Thermodynamik with Brill Publishers in Leiden with some, but not all of Einstein's corrections.[9]
Legacy
The Dutch Physics Council sponsors the Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa thesis award.[10]
References
- ^ a b "Tatyana Ehrenfest-Afanassyeva". www.epigenesys.eu. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
- ^ a b "Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa biography". www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
- . See p. 57: "In 1912 Ehrenfest succeeded Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853–1928) as professor of theoretical physics at Leiden. ... In Leiden, the Ehrenfests moved into a Russian-style villa designed by Ehrenfest’s Russian wife Tatiana Afanashewa, a mathematician."
- ISBN 0-486-49504-3
- ^ T. Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa, On the Use of the Notion "Probability" in Physics Am. J. Phys. 26: 388 (1958)
- ^ T. Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa, Die Grundlagen der Thermodynamik (Leiden 1956)
- KiB).
- ^ Ed de Moor Van Vormleer naar Realistische Meetkunde, Thesis, Utrecht (1999).
- ^ a b Margriet van der Heijden (2019). "Einsteins onbekende brieven aan Afanassjewa". NRC (2–3 February 2019): W4–W5.
- ^ "Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa thesis award". Dutch Physics Council.
Sources
- Klein, Martin J. (1972). The making of a theoretical physicist (1. ed., 2. print. ed.). Amsterdam: North-Holland Publ. ISBN 978-0720401639.
- Pyenson, Lewis (1995). "Ehrenfest, Tatyana Afanaseva". In McMurray, Emily J.; Kosek, Jane Kelly; Valade III, Roger M. (eds.). Notable twentieth-century scientists. Detroit, MI: Gale Research. ISBN 9780810391819.
Further reading
- Vogt, Annette B. (1970–1980). "Ehrenfest-Afanas'eva, Tatiana A.". ISBN 978-0-684-10114-9.