Hanfried Lenz

Who was Hanfried Lenz?

Hanfried Lenz was a German mathematician, who is mainly known for his work in geometry and combinatorics.

Hanfried Lenz was the eldest son of Fritz Lenz an influential German geneticist, who is associated with Eugenics and hence also with the Nazi racial policies during the Third Reich. He started to study mathematics and physics at the University of Tübingen, but interrupted his studies from 1935-37 to do his military service. After that he continued to study in Munich, Berlin and Leipzig. In 1939 when World War II broke out in Europe, he became a soldier in the western front and during a vacation he passed the exams for his teacher certification. He married Helene Ranke in 1943 and 1943-45 he worked on radar technology in a laboratory near Berlin.

After WWII Hanfried Lenz was classified as a "follower" by the denazification process. He started to work as a math and physics teacher in Munich and in 1949 he became an assistant at the Technical University of Munich. He received his PhD in 1951 and his Habilitation in 1953. He worked as a lecturer until he became an associate professor in 1959. In 1969 he finally became a full professor at the Free University of Berlin and worked there until his retirement in 1984.