Dietrich Mahnke

Dietrich Mahnke (17 October 1884, Verden – 25 July 1939, Fürth) was a German philosopher and historian of mathematics.

After serving in the First World War (stationed in Lens, France), he graduated from the University of Freiburg in 1925 with a thesis on Leibniz.

In 1926 he habilitated at Greifswald with a thesis entitled Neue Einblicke in die Entdeckungsgeschichte der höheren Analysis.

[1] Mahnke's work in the history of mathematics focussed primarily on Leibniz's development of the infinitesimal calculus, and his relationship to Neo-Platonism.

His last book, Unendliche Sphäre und Allmittelpunkt, Beiträge zur Genealogie der mathematischen Mystik was a study of the use of mathematical symbolism, especially the notion of "infinite spheres", in religious mysticism.