David van Dantzig

David van Dantzig (September 23, 1900 – July 22, 1959) was a Dutch mathematician, well known for the construction in topology of the solenoid. He was a member of the Significs Group.

Biography Born to a Jewish family in Amsterdam in 1900, David van Dantzig started to study Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam in 1917, where Gerrit Mannoury lectured. He received his PhD at the University of Groningen in 1931 with a thesis entitled "" under supervision of Bartel Leendert van der Waerden.

Van Dantzig, in collaboration with Johannes van der Corput and Jurjen Ferdinand Koksma, played a pivotal role in establishing the 'Mathematical Centre' in Amsterdam. This institution, funded by both government and industry, was designed to amalgamate all facets of pure and applied mathematics under a single entity. As the head of the Department of Mathematical Statistics, Van Dantzig was instrumental in enhancing research and fostering consultancy, gaining widespread recognition both nationally and internationally.

He was appointed professor at the Delft University of Technology in 1938, and at the University of Amsterdam in 1946. Among his doctoral students were Jan Hemelrijk (1950), Johan Kemperman (1950), David Johannes Stoker (1955), and Constance van Eeden (1958).

Van Dantzig's contributions to mathematics and statistics were acknowledged through numerous appointments and memberships. In 1949 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen). He was a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the American Statistical Association, and the Royal Statistical Society. His memberships extended to the International Statistical Institute, and he was a prominent figure in the Dutch Statistical Association (Vereniging voor Statistiek). Additionally, Van Dantzig held the position of Visiting Professor at the University of California, Berkeley in 1951 and spent time working at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. A comprehensive report on this work, spanning several hundred pages, was found on his desk on the day of his death.

Publications Books, a selection: 1931. Studien over topologische algebra. Doctoral thesis University of Groningen. 1932. Over de elementen van het wiskundig denken : voordracht. Rede Delft. Groningen : Noordhoff. 1938. Vragen en schijnvragen over ruimte en tijd : een toepassing van den wiskundigen denkvorm. Inaugurale rede Technische Hogeschool te Delft 1948. De functie der wetenschap : drie voordrachten, met discussie. With E.W. Beth and C.F.P. Stutterheim. 's-Gravenhage : Leopold

Articles, a selection: D. van Dantzig, C. Scheffer "On hereditary time discrete stochastic processes, considered as stationary Markov chains, and the corresponding general form of Wald’s fundamental identity," Indag. Math. (16), No.4, (1954), p. 377–388 Dantzig, D. van. 1956. Economic decision problems for flood prevention. Econometrica 24(3) 276–287.