Heinz Hopf
Heinz Hopf (19 November 1894 – 3 June 1971) was a German mathematician whose pioneering work in algebraic topology, including the introduction of the Hopf fibration and invariant, profoundly shaped modern homotopy theory and geometric structures.[1][2]
Born in Gräbschen near Breslau (present-day Wrocław, Poland) to a family of mixed Jewish-Protestant heritage, Hopf studied at universities in Breslau, Heidelberg, and Berlin, earning his PhD in 1925 from the University of Berlin under Erhard Schmidt for a dissertation on topological-metric connections in manifolds.[1][2]
After habilitation in Göttingen and a visiting stint at Princeton, he joined ETH Zurich in 1931 as professor, succeeding Hermann Weyl, and remained there until retirement, fostering a hub for topological research.[1][2]
In 1931, Hopf defined the fibration S^3 \to S^2, a circle bundle demonstrating non-trivial homotopy groups and the first example of a fiber bundle beyond trivial cases, which extended fixed-point theorems and bridged combinatorial and differential topology.[1]
His extensions of Lefschetz's fixed-point formula, studies on homology of Lie groups, and co-authorship of foundational texts like Topology I with Pavel Aleksandrov solidified his influence, earning honors such as the presidency of the International Mathematical Union (1955–1958).[1][2]