Felix Hausdorff

Felix Hausdorff
Born	(1868-11-08)November 8, 1868 Breslau, Kingdom of Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland)
Died	January 26, 1942(1942-01-26) (aged 73) Bonn, Germany
Nationality	German
Alma mater	University of Leipzig
Known for	η set Back-and-forth method Baker–Campbell–Hausdorff formula Hausdorff completion Hausdorff dimension Hausdorff distance Hausdorff gap Hausdorff maximal principle Hausdorff measure Hausdorff paradox Hausdorff space Hausdorff moment problem Hausdorff–Young inequality
Spouse	Charlotte Hausdorff (1873-1942)
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	University of Bonn, University of Greifswald, University of Leipzig
Thesis	Zur Theorie der astronomischen Strahlenbrechung  (1891)
Doctoral advisor	Heinrich Bruns Adolph Mayer

Felix Hausdorff (/ˈhaʊsdɔːrf/ HOWS-dorf, /ˈhaʊzdɔːrf/ HOWZ-dorf;^[1] November 8, 1868 – January 26, 1942^[2]) was a German mathematician, pseudonym Paul Mongré (à mon gré (Fr.) = "according to my taste"),^[3] who is considered to be one of the founders of modern topology and who contributed significantly to set theory, descriptive set theory, measure theory, and functional analysis.

Life became difficult for Hausdorff and his family after the Kristallnacht of 1938. The next year he initiated efforts to emigrate to the United States, but was unable to make arrangements to receive a research fellowship. On 26 January 1942, Felix Hausdorff, along with his wife and his sister-in-law, died by suicide by taking an overdose of veronal, rather than comply with German orders to move to the Endenich camp, and there suffer the likely implications, about which he held no illusions.