Finding aid for the Eric Reissner papers 6100
Emily Hodgkins
USC Libraries Special Collections
2015 August
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California 90089-0189
specol@usc.edu
Language of Material:
German
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Eric Reissner papers
creator:
Reissner, Eric
creator:
Reissner, Hans J. (Hans Jacob)
Identifier/Call Number: 6100
Physical Description:
1.4 Linear Feet
2 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1927-1968
Date (bulk): 1936-1940
Abstract:
The Reissner papers consist of more than 200 letters, many of them in German, written to Eric Reissner (1913-1996), a German-born
mathematician. Correspondents include Reissner's father, Hans, a prominent German aeronatuical engineer whose avocation was
mathematical physics; Bernhard Hermann Neumann, a German-born British-Australian mathematician who was a leading figure in
group theory; William Prager, a German expert in the fields of vibrations, plasticity and the theory of structures; and many
other prominent scientists as well as other friends of the Reissners. Reissner was born in Aachen, Germany on 1913 January
5 to aeronautical engineer Hans Reissner and his wife. The Reissners were at the center of a community of prominent German-born
scientists who emigrated to the United States, leaving their German homeland behind in the years preceding World War II. Reissner
was a mathematician whose work in applied mechanics helped broaden the theoretical understanding of how solid objects react
under stress and led to advances in both civil and aerospace engineering.
Container: 1-2
Content Description
More than 200 letters, many of them in German, written to Eric Riessner (1913-1996), a German-born mathematician. Correspondents
include Reissner's father, Hans, a prominent German aeronatuical engineer whose avocation was mathematical physics; Bernhard
Hermann Neumann, a German-born British-Australian mathematician who was a leading figure in group theory; William Prager,
a German expert in the fields of vibrations, plasticity and the theory of structures; and many other prominent scientists
as well as other friends of the Reissners.
Biographical / Historical
Eric Reissner (1913-1996) was born in Aachen, Germany on 1913 January 5 to aeronautical engineer Hans Reissner and his wife.
The Reissners were at the center of a community of prominent German-born scientists who emigrated to the United States, leaving
their German homeland behind in the years preceding World War II. Eric Reissner was a mathematician whose work in applied
mechanics helped broaden the theoretical understanding of how solid objects react under stress and led to advances in both
civil and aerospace engineering.
He came from a family background in engineering: his father, Hans Reissner (1874-1967), was a prominent German aeronautical
engineer whose avocation was mathematical physics. During World War I, Hans Reissner was awarded the Iron Cross second class
(for civilians) for his pioneering work on aircraft design. He was the founder of the Aerodynamics Institute at the Aachen
Technische Hochschule, but moved to work at his alma mater, the Technische Hochschule Berlin. Under the Third Reich, the senior
Reissner was able to work in the aircraft industry even though he did not have an "Arierzeugnis." His son Eric therefore grew
up in Berlin, eventually graduating with honors from the Technische Hochschule Berlin in the Fall of 1935. Accepting a scholarship
to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he moved to the U.S. in 1937 and received a Ph.D. in mathematics there,
getting married and staying in Boston. He would eventually become a faculty member in the Department of Mathematics, remaining
there from 1939-1969. In 1938, his mother and father emigrated to the U.S. and the elder Reissner taught at the Illinois Institute
of Technology (1938-1944) and the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (1944-1954). Eric Reissner is most known academically
for a theory for flat plates with transverse shear definitions, variational principles for linear and nonlinear elasticity
theory, and a simultaneous equation formulation for axi-symmetric finite deformations of elastic shells of revolution. He
published around 300 research articles throughout his career and received a multitude of fellowships and academic awards.
Because of the family's strong and inter-generational connection to the scientific community in Germany, many people looking
to leave Germany would contact them for support or as a reference. Such was the case with Kurt Wohl, a prominent chemical
engineer who came to the U.S. and eventually became a professor at the University of Delaware; Reissner was asked to help
with a statement that would allow Wohl's wife, born in Switzerland, to come to the U.S. along with her children. Another example
is that of Rolf Landshoff, a scientist for whom Albert Einstein himself wrote a letter of reference, who contacted Reissner
for support as he worked to stay in the U.S. He was able to find his way to the University of Minnesota through a Jewish student
organization, and eventually was one of the scientists at the nuclear testing site at Los Alamos, later working in applied
physics.
Another letter is from William Prager, an expert in the fields of vibrations, plasticity, and the theory of structures. He
had served as the acting director of the Institute of Applied Mathematics at the University of Goettingen, but was dismissed
in 1933 for his anti-Nazi views. He successfully sued the German government, thereby winning a year's back pay and an offer
to return to his work; however, he decided by this time it was best to leave Germany for a position as a professor of mechanics
at Istanbul University. He was eventually recruited by Brown University, where he became professor of applied mathematics.
Unfortunately, not everyone who contacted Reissner found the same fortunate fate. One letter from scientist Sylvain Fleischer
of Cottbus, who sent an accompanying curriculum vitae appealing for help from the Reissners; he is now listed in the JewishGen
Necrology database as a holocaust martyr. Another correspondent and friend of Reissner's from Berlin, Gerti Ascher, is listed
in the Yad Vashem database of Shoah victims as being deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto and then sent to Auschwitz, where
she was killed.
Conditions Governing Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Preferred Citation
[Box/folder no. or item name], Eric Reissner papers, Collection no. 6100, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of
Southern California
Processing Information
A few sets of letters from notable correspondents have been separated and put in their own folder.
Related Materials
Eric Reissner Papers, UC San Diego Special Collections and Archives, MSS 0416
Hans Reissner Papers, UC San Diego Special Collections and Archives, MSS 0030
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from The Bookshop, November 24, 2014.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Letters
Ephemera
Scientists -- Germany -- Correspondence
Reissner, Eric
Reissner, Eric -- Archives
Reissner, Hans J. (Hans Jacob)
Reissner, Hans J. (Hans Jacob) -- Correspondence
Box 2, Folder 13
[Correspondence]
1927 February 9-1931 March 2
Box 2, Folder 12
[Empty envelopes]
1928 December 13-1929 April 29
Box 1, Folder 1
[Correspondence]
1935 April 5
Scope and Contents
Folder contains one letter from V. Levin regarding Reissner's scientific work.
Box 1, Folder 2
[Correspondence]
1936 September 2-October 31
Scope and Contents
Folder includes correspondence with Rolf Gran Olsson (scientist and mathematician working in Trondheim), Else Petersen, his
wife Johanna (Hanni), his parents, Anne Marie Jacobsthal (wife of German mathematician Ernst Jacobsthal), as well as the Eldridge
Reeves Johnson Foundation for Medical Physics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Box 1, Folder 3
[Correspondence]
1936 November 2-December 31
Scope and Contents
Folder contains correspondence with his wife Johanna (Hanni), Carl Zegher (of the Schweizerische Bauzeitung, Zurich), his
parents, Elsa Braendstroem-Ulich (a Swedish nurse and philanthropist known for her nursing work in World War I and for giving
help to refugees in World War II), Erich's sister Thea, and Rolf Gran Olsson.
Box 1, Folder 4
[Correspondence]
1937 January 2-28
Scope and Contents
Folder contains correspondence with his wife Johanna (Hanni) and his parents.
Box 1, Folder 5
[Correspondence]
1937 February 1-25
Scope and Contents
Folder contains correspondence with his wife Johanna (Hanni), his parents, Prof. Dr. Robert Fuchs, and his uncle William Reissner.
Box 1, Folder 6
[Correspondence]
1937 March 3-April 28
Scope and Contents
Folder contains correspondence with his wife Johanna (Hanni), his parents, his sister Thea, Anne Marie Jacobsthal (wife of
German mathematician Ernst Jacobsthal), and Erich's uncle William Reissner.
Box 1, Folder 7
[Correspondence]
1937 May 5-29
Scope and Contents
Folder contains correspondence with Elsa Braendstroem-Ulich, Erich's parents, Dr. (Franz?) Herzfeld Wuesthoff (a German chemist
and husband of Freda Herzfeld Wuesthoff?), Erich's wife Johanna (Hanni), and Helmut Gutmann (of the Eldridge Reeves Johnson
Foundation for Medical Physics).
Box 1, Folder 8
[Correspondence]
1937 June 4-July 26
Scope and Contents
Folder includes correspondence with his sister Thea, his parents, and his wife Johanna (Hanni).
Box 1, Folder 9
[Correspondence]
1937 August 2-31
Scope and Contents
Folder includes correspondence with his wife Johanna (Hanni), his parents, Doris E. Kauffmann, and Gerti Ascher.
Box 1, Folder 10
[Correspondence]
1937 September 5-28
Scope and Contents
Folder includes correspondence with his parents, his wife Johanna (Hanni), and Doris E. Kauffmann.
Box 1, Folder 11
[Correspondence]
1937 October 2-31
Scope and Contents
Folder includes correspondence with his wife Johanna (Hanni), Rolf Gran Olsson, Erich's parents, and his cousin.
Box 1, Folder 12
[Correspondence]
1937 November 2-30
Scope and Contents
Folder includes correspondence with his wife Johanna (Hanni), his parents, and Rolf Gran Olsson.
Box 1, Folder 13
[Correspondence]
1937 December 1-29
Scope and Contents
Folder includes correspondence with his parents, his wife Johanna (Hanni), Gerti Ascher, Max Lemke, and Erich's sister Thea.
Box 2, Folder 1
[Correspondence]
1938 January 2-31
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with his parents, his wife Johanna (Hanni), Max Lemke, Dr. R. Fuchs of Berlin, Bernhard Hermann Neumann
(a German-born mathematician known for his developments on group theory), Doris Kauffmann, Erich's uncle William Reissner,
and Mr. and Mrs. Siegel (his wife Johanna's parents).
Box 2, Folder 2
[Correspondence]
1938 February 1-26
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with his wife Johanna (Hanni), his parents, and his sister Thea.
Box 2, Folder 3
[Correspondence]
1938 March 2-31
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with his parents, his wife Johanna (Hanni), and his sister Thea.
Box 2, Folder 4
[Correspondence]
1938 April 1-30
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with his parents, his wife Johanna (Hanni), and his sister Thea.
Box 2, Folder 5
[Correspondence]
1938 May 5-31
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with his wife Johanna (Hanni), his sister Thea, his parents, Rolf Gran Olsson, Gerti Ascher, and Nicolaus
Hoff (Hungarian astronautical and aeronautical engineer).
Box 2, Folder 6
[Correspondence]
1938 June 3-29
Scope and Contents
Folder includes correspondence with his parents and Rolf Gran Olsson.
Box 2, Folder 7
[Correspondence]
1938 July 5-23
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with his sister Thea and his parents.
Box 2, Folder 8
[Correspondence]
1938 August 1-October 31
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with his parents, William Prager (a German-born mathematician known for the Drucker-Prager yield criterion),
and Harold Pikler.
Box 2, Folder 9
[Correspondence]
1938 November 4-December 22
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with Reissner's parents.
Box 2, Folder 10
[Correspondence]
1939 January 13-1940 August 13
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with his parents, Ernst Jacobsthal, and Erich's sister Thea.
Box 2, Folder 11
[Correspondence]
1940 September 27-1945 July 31
Scope and Contents
Includes mostly correspondence with his wife Johanna (Hanni).
Box 2, Folder 14
[Correspondence]
undated
Scope and Contents
Assorted undated correspondence, predominantly from Reissner's family.
Box 2, Folder 15
[Correspondence with Rolf Landshoff]
1936 November 17-1938 January 3
Scope and Contents
Correspondence with Rolf Landshoff, who contacted Reissner for support as he worked to stay in the U.S. He was able to find
his way to the University of Minnesota through a Jewish student organization, and eventually was one of the scientists at
the nuclear testing site at Los Alamos, later working in applied physics.
Box 2, Folder 16
[Correspondence with the National Student Federation of the U.S.A.]
1936 December 11-1937 June 3
Box 2, Folder 17
[Correspondence with the Harvard Graduate School of Engineering]
1937 February 19-1937 April 10
Box 2, Folder 18
[Correspondence with the American Committee for Christian German Refugees]
1937 August 20-1938 July 19
Box 2, Folder 19
[Correspondence with the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences Inc.]
1938 May 11-1938 October 5
Box 2, Folder 20
[Correspondence with Sylvain Fleischer]
1938 August 21
Scope and Contents
Correspondence with scientist Sylvain Fleischer of Cottbus, who sent a letter and an accompanying curriculum vitae appealing
for help from the Reissners; he is now listed in the JewishGen Necrology database as a holocaust martyr.
Box 2, Folder 22
[Miscellaneous ephemera]
ca. 1936-1938
Box 2, Folder 21
Zentralblatt fuer Geophysik, Meteorologie und Geodaesie (Berlin)
ca. 1937
