Obituary
Em. O. Univ.-Prof. Dr. August Florian
August Florian was appointed Full Professor of Mathematics at the University of Salzburg in 1967, where he worked at the Institute of Mathematics until his retirement in 1996. From the very beginning, he was interested in discrete geometry. He dedicated himself to a pioneering field of research that was continuously gaining in importance and reputation within geometry and mathematics as a whole due to the rapid development of digitalisation. This enabled him to occupy an outstanding position in the international scientific community and to make a formative contribution to the reputation of the Salzburg Institute of Mathematics. he international conferences he organised on discrete geometry, at which world-renowned experts gave lectures, were of great importance. As the first full professor of mathematics to be appointed, August Florian was instrumental in establishing the Institute of Mathematics at the University of Salzburg. Among other things, he was a full member of the mathematical and scientific class of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. With the passing of August Florian, the University of Salzburg and the mathematical community have lost a highly esteemed university teacher and scientist as well as an amiable colleague. We will miss him greatly and will always remember him with honour. Our special condolences go to his family. The funeral will take place on 13 November 2017 at 13:00 in the funeral hall at the municipal cemetery.
Obituary
Em. O. Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Peter M. Gruber
Peter M. Gruber was born in Klagenfurt in 1941. He studied mathematics at the University of Vienna and the University of Kansas, where he also completed his doctorate in 1966 under Nikolaus Hofreiter and Edmund Hlawka. He then moved to the TU Vienna as an assistant. In 1971, he was appointed professor in Linz and returned to TU Wien in 1976 when he was appointed to the Chair of Analysis. Until his retirement in 2009, he headed the research group he founded for convex and discrete geometry. Peter Gruber has been working on the geometry of numbers since his doctoral thesis. He has made significant contributions in this area and, together with Gerrit Lekkerkerker, wrote the standard work in this field, Geometry of Numbers (1987). Describing and solving questions of number theory with geometric concepts led Peter Gruber into the research field of convex and discrete geometry, in which he worked with great international success until the end. Together with Jörg Wills, he published the influential Handbook of Convex Geometry (1993). His magnum opus is the monograph Convex and Discrete Geometry (2007), in which his view of convex geometry is presented in a beautiful and comprehensive way.
Over the course of his life, Peter Gruber had a major influence on the development of mathematics in Germany and abroad, especially convex geometry. He had numerous students, both in the sense of supervising dissertations, but also as a mentor and through his imaginative work and mathematical conjectures. At conferences and seminars, he often used historical remarks to encourage people not to forget classical problems and perspectives. Peter M. Gruber has been a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences since 1991. He was an honorary member of the Accademia Nazionale in Modena, a corresponding member of the Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti in Messina and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, and a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He has received numerous awards, including the Cross of Honour for Science and Art 1st Class in 2001 and the Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver for Services to the Republic of Austria in 2008. The Universities of Turin (2000), Siegen (2001) and Salzburg (2010) have awarded him honorary doctorates.
Peter Gruber felt very close to the University of Salzburg. He was also a visiting professor at the Department of Mathematics on several occasions. Over the last ten years, he has taken part in seminars every semester based on his monograph Convex and Discrete Geometry. He has introduced Salzburg students to convex geometry in an understandable and lively way, with numerous anecdotes and personal comments. In Peter M. Gruber, the mathematical world has lost a meritorious and distinguished scientist as well as an amiable colleague. We will miss him greatly and will always remember him with honour. Our deepest sympathy goes out to his family. The funeral service will take place on Monday, 20 March 2017, at 10:00 am in the Hinterbrühl parish church. The funeral will then take place at the local cemetery.
Ehrenpromotion an der Universität Salzburg am 22.3.2010
