Author: Konrad Jacobs. Source: Archives of the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach.

Vale Arthur Engel

Born 12 January 1928
Died Frankfurt, 11 November 2022

With great sadness, we must report on the passing of Arthur Engel.

Arthur was one of the founding fathers of the mathematics competition scene in what was then West Germany. He started to organize the Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik as far back as 1965, and it finally took place for the first time under his leadership in 1970.

He was team leader at the first West German participation at an IMO in 1977, and was Chair of the jury at the IMO in Braunschweig in 1989. He was awarded many honors for his work in mathematics competitions, among them the prestigious Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Verdienstkreuz am Bande). He was one of the recipients of the earlier version of the Hilbert award by the WFNMC (more information is available here, noting that one needs to scroll to the foot of this page). Among his many publications, he is especially well known internationally for his "Problem-Solving Strategies", first published in 1998.

He began his career as a teacher at a Gymnasium, later moving on professionally to the Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg, and then to the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, becoming Emeritus in 1993.

Arthur Engel will be sorely missed.

Robert Geretschläger
President WFNMC
Graz
07 March 2023