Selig Brodestsky
Born10 February 1888
Olviopol, Kherson Governorate, Russian Empire (now Pervomaisk, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine)
Died18 May 1954(1954-05-18) (aged 66)
London, United Kingdom
Resting placeWillesden Jewish Cemetery
EducationJews' Free School
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
OccupationMathematician
SpouseManya Berenblum
Children1 son, 1 daughter
Parent(s)Akiva Brodetsky
Adel Prober
RelativesSolomon Mestel (brother-in-law)
Leon Mestel (nephew)

Selig Brodetsky (Hebrew: אשר זליג ברודצק, romanized: Asher Zelig Brodetsky; 10 February 1888 – 18 May 1954)[1] was a Russian-born English mathematician, a member of the World Zionist Executive, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and the second president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Background

Brodetsky was born in Olviopol (now Pervomaisk) in the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine), the second of 13 children born to Akiva Brodetsky (the beadle of the local synagogue) and Adel (Prober). As a child, he witnessed the murder of his uncle in a pogrom. In 1894, the family followed Akiva to the East End of London, to where he had migrated a year earlier. Brodetsky attended the Jews' Free School, where he excelled at his studies. He was awarded a scholarship, which enabled him to attend the Central Foundation Boys' School of London[2] and subsequently, in 1905, Trinity College, Cambridge.

In 1908, he completed his studies with highest honours being Senior Wrangler, to the distress of the conservative press, which was forced to recognise that a son of immigrants surpassed all the local students. The Newton scholarship enabled him to study at Leipzig University where he was awarded a doctorate in 1913. His dissertation dealt with the gravitational field.

In 1919, he married Manya Berenblum, whose family had recently emigrated from Belgium, where her father had been a diamond merchant in Antwerp. They had two children, Paul and Adele, in 1924 and 1927.

Academic career

In 1914, Brodetsky was appointed a lecturer in applied mathematics at the University of Bristol.[3][4][5] During the First World War he was employed as an advisor to the British company developing periscopes for submarines.

In 1919, Brodetsky became a lecturer at the University of Leeds. Five years later he was appointed professor of applied mathematics at Leeds where he remained until 1948. Much of his work concerned aeronautics and mechanics of aeroplanes. He was the head of the mathematics department of the University of Leeds from 1946 to 1948. He was active in the Association of University Teachers, serving as president in 1935–1936.

Brodetsky became the second president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1949, preceded by Sir Leon Simon, serving until 1952, and followed by Benjamin Mazar (1953 to 1961), at a time when the university was going through a rocky period, eventually having to abandon its campus on Mount Scopus.[6] He attempted to overhaul the structure of the university but he soon became embroiled in bitter struggles with the University Senate, which interfered in his academic and bureaucratic work. Apparently, Brodetsky thought that he was going to take up a position similar to that of Vice-Chancellor of an English university but many in Jerusalem saw the position as essentially an honorary one, like the Chancellor of an English university. This struggle affected his health and in 1952 he decided to resign his post and return to England.

Education

Career

He was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Royal Aeronautical Society and Institute of Physics.

His sister Rachel married Rabbi Solomon Mestel; their son is astronomer and astrophysicist Leon Mestel.

References

  1. ↑ "Dr. Selig Brodetsky". The Times. No. 52935. 19 May 1954. p. 8.
  2. ↑ "Alumni". Central Foundation Boys' School. 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Aubin, David; Goldstein, Catherine (7 October 2014). The War of Guns and Mathematics: Mathematical Practices and Communities in ... – Google Books. American Mathematical Society. ISBN 9781470414696. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  4. ↑ Matthäus, Jürgen (18 April 2013). Jewish Responses to Persecution: 1941–1942 – Jürgen Matthäus – Google Books. AltaMira Press. ISBN 9780759122598. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  5. ↑ Kol, Moshe (22 June 2006). Mentors and friends – Moshe Kol – Google Books. Cornwall Books. ISBN 9780845347416. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  6. ↑ "Office of the President | האוניברסיטה העברית בירושלים | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem". New.huji.ac.il. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  7. ↑ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Selig Brodetsky", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
  • The personal papers of Selig Brodetsky are kept at the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem. The notation of the record group is A82.
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