Leopold Löwenheim [ˈle:o:pɔl̩d ˈlø:vɛnhaɪm] (26 June 1878 in
Krefeld – 5 May 1957 in
Berlin) was a German
mathematician doing work in
mathematical logic. The
Nazi regime forced him to retire because under the
Nuremberg Laws he was considered only three quarters
Aryan. In 1943 much of his work was destroyed during a
bombing raid on Berlin. Nevertheless, he survived the
Second World War, after which he resumed teaching
mathematics.[1]
Löwenheim (1915) gave the first proof of what is now known as the
Löwenheim–Skolem theorem, often considered the starting point for
model theory.
Leopold was the son of Ludwig Löwenheim, a mathematics teacher at the
polytechnic in
Krefeld and Elizabeth Röhn, a writer. In 1881 the three of them left Krefeld first for
Naples and then
Berlin where Ludwig was a private scholar working on a comprehensive account of the influence of
Democritus on modern science. Although he hoped this would gain him a teaching job at
Humboldt University Ludwig died in 1894.[2]
Brady, Geraldine, 2000. From Peirce to Skolem. North Holland. Contains a detailed exegesis of the proof in Löwenheim (1915), and discusses how
Thoralf Skolem simplified that proof and extended the scope and generality of the theorem.