Johannes Tropfke

Johannes Tropfke (14 October 1866 – 10 November 1939) was a German mathematician and teacher, who is best remembered for his influential work on the history of mathematics Geschichte der Elementarmathematik, which consists of seven volumes.

Life Tropfke was born in Berlin at Marienstraße 14 as the older of two sons of the cabinet maker Franz Tropfke. The house in which Tropfke was born was built by his grandfather Franz Joseph Tropfke around 1830 and is one of the few houses in the area that was not destroyed during World War II. Tropfke grew up in Berlin and after his graduation from the Friedrichs-Gymnasium (high school) in 1884 he attended the university in Berlin to study sciences and mathematics. In 1889 he was awarded a degree to teach math and sciences at gymnasiums (high schools). Later he earned a PhD in mathematics from the University of Halle for a thesis on elliptic integrals (Zur Darstellung des elliptischen Integrales erster Gattung), his advisor was Lazarus Fuchs.

Tropfke first worked as teacher at the Friedrichs-Realgymnasium and at the Realgymnasium of Dorotheenstadt and in 1913 he became the principal of the newly founded Kirschner-Oberrealschule in Moabit. Tropfke stayed on in this position until his retirement in 1932. In 1907 he was awarded the title of a professor. He was one of the first members of the International Academy of the History of Science and in 1939 he was awarded the Leibniz medal by the Prussian Academy of Sciences.

In 1930 Tropfke received the Ackermann–Teubner Memorial Award for his second edition of Geschichte der Elementarmathematik.