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Reissner (Eric) papers
6100
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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
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.
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.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.
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.
[Box/folder no. or item name], Eric Reissner papers, Collection no. 6100, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of
Southern California
A few sets of letters from notable correspondents have been separated and put in their own folder.
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