Walter Purkert (born 22 January 1944 in Trautenau) is a German mathematician and historian of mathematics.
His thesis Die Entwicklung des abstrakten Körperbegriffs (The development of the abstract concept of the algebraic structure called a field) was supervised by Hans Wußing.
[2] From 1972 to 1979 Purkert was employed in the mathematics section of Leipzig University's mathematics/natural sciences department.
The leading editorial committee had five members including, besides Purkert, Egbert Brieskorn (the project initiator),[4] Friedrich Hirzebruch, Reinhold Remmert, and Erhard Scholz.
[1] Purkert was the co-author, with Hans-Joachim Ilgauds, of a well-regarded biography of Georg Cantor.