Re: categories: Nico Pumplün

[Timothy Porter <t.porter.maths@gmail.com>]

Thanks Walter,
I have good memories of Nico from when I used to visit Hagen for
collaboration with Heiner Kamps who was also there.


On Wed, 21 Jul 2021 at 22:11, Walter P Tholen <tholen@yorku.ca> wrote:

>
> Many readers of this list will remember Dieter („Nico“) Pumplün. He passed
> away yesterday (July 20, 2021) at the age of 88.
>
> Nico received his doctoral degree in 1960 at the Westfälische
> Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, Germany, with a thesis in algebraic number
> theory, written under the direction of Hans Petersson. He turned his
> attention to  category theory during a stay in the U.S. and was an early
> promoter of the  theory in Germany in the 1960s. Later on, he became
> particularly interested in the applications of category theory to analysis,
> as evidenced by his extensive collaborative work with Helmut Röhrl and
> Diethard Pallaschke. Among many others, he also collaborated with his
> friend Heinrich Kleisli.
>
> Nico served his institutions in various important administrative
> positions,  first at the WWU and then at Fernuniversität in Hagen, a  newly
> founded university specializing in distance education, where in 1975 he had
> assumed the inaugural professorial position in mathematics. He was
> instrumental in establishing the mathematics curriculum at Fernuniversität,
> and his enthusiasm for research and the education of his graduate students
> were extraordinary and very inspiring.
>
> Nico very much mourned the death of his wife Hannelore a few years ago.
> His  two daughters, Susanne and Constanze, are both professional
> mathematicians, and there is a prospect that some of his four grandsons
> will follow a similar career path.
>
> I will miss a teacher, mentor and life-long friend.
>

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