Name: Anonymous 2011-12-09 13:39
http://www.jstor.org/pss/231607
Through this instrument Klein was able to control developments in the field, since those who
worked outside his empire were never given any recognition. Eventually all the
leading journals became dependent on him, and no one could obtain even the
lowliest position without his approval. Yet even this could not satisfy Klein's
ambition for he also wanted the mathematicians of other coun-
tries to submit to his rule. Thus he drew foreign students to Gottingen and gave
them work of great interest, while young Germans, unless they happened to be
Jewish, were forced into the background. The atmosphere in Gottingen was not
only international and pacifist; it was already, in the 1890s, decidedly anti-
German. Any expression of nationalist sentiment by a young German automati-
cally jeopardized his career. In fact the Gottingen influence
was so pervasive it even created a new style among German mathematicians,
whose behavior, posture, gestures, and manners of speech were altered in imita-
tion of Jewish prototypes. Only those non-Jews who could adopt this style had
any hope of furthering their careers. Klein's dictatorship eventually led to a
barely visible but all-powerful organization across the academic landscape, and
practically every institution of higher education in Germany had its "Gottingen
Jew" on the faculty.
Through this instrument Klein was able to control developments in the field, since those who
worked outside his empire were never given any recognition. Eventually all the
leading journals became dependent on him, and no one could obtain even the
lowliest position without his approval. Yet even this could not satisfy Klein's
ambition for he also wanted the mathematicians of other coun-
tries to submit to his rule. Thus he drew foreign students to Gottingen and gave
them work of great interest, while young Germans, unless they happened to be
Jewish, were forced into the background. The atmosphere in Gottingen was not
only international and pacifist; it was already, in the 1890s, decidedly anti-
German. Any expression of nationalist sentiment by a young German automati-
cally jeopardized his career. In fact the Gottingen influence
was so pervasive it even created a new style among German mathematicians,
whose behavior, posture, gestures, and manners of speech were altered in imita-
tion of Jewish prototypes. Only those non-Jews who could adopt this style had
any hope of furthering their careers. Klein's dictatorship eventually led to a
barely visible but all-powerful organization across the academic landscape, and
practically every institution of higher education in Germany had its "Gottingen
Jew" on the faculty.