1869-1942

Hausdorff was born in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) in the latter part of 1869. He attended local schools and graduated from the University of Leipzig in 1891 and was asked to remain there as a teacher. Within a year, he received an invitation to join the staff at the prestigious Göttingen University but elected to teach at Bonn instead. Hausdorff's work was mainly centered on topology and set theory, and his remarkable grasp of this area of mathematics was apparent to all who worked with him. Unfortunately for Hausdorff, his Jewish ancestry cost him his position at the university. Early on, he and his family managed to avoid capture but, in 1942, Hausdorff, his wife, and her sister were sent to one of the internment camps, where Hausdorff committed suicide in 1942.