Friedrich (Fritz) L. Bauer

Born June 10, 1924, Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany; early German computer scientist responsible for the STANISIAUS and for the stack method of expression evaluation, known in German as the "Keller" (Cellar) method.

Education: University of Munich, 1946-1951; State Teacher Examination, 1949; PhD, University of Munich, 1952.

Professional Experience: high school teacher, 1949-1951; Munich University of Technology: lecturer, 1954-1958, reader, mathematics, 1955-1958; Gutenberg University, Mainz: associate professor, applied mathematics, 1958-1962, professor, 1962-1963; Munich University of Technology: chair, mathematics, 1963-1972, chair, computer science, 1972-present.

Honors and Awards: member, Bavarian Academy of Sciences, 1968; Bavarian Order of Merit, 1971; DSc (Hon.), University of Grenoble, 1974; Austrian Wilhelm Exner Medal, 1978; Cross of Merit (First Class), Federal Republic of' Germany, 1982; member, Leopoldina Academy, Halle, 1984; Bavarian Maximilian Order of Science and Art, 1986; IEEE Computer Pioneer Medal, 1988; DSc (Hon.), University of Passau, 1989.

Fritz Bauer started to work as a high school teacher in 1949 and at the same time continued his studies at the Munich University. He was promoted to lecturer in 1954, and reader for mathematics at the Munich University of Technology in 1955. In 1958 he joined Gutenberg University in Mainz as associate professor of applied mathematics. In 1962 he was promoted to full professor at Mainz, but returned to the Munich University of Technology in 1963 where he accepted a newly created chair. In 1972 Bauer moved from the chair of mathematics to a new chair of computer science, the field he had prepared and built up at Munich. He has authored a number of books, some of which have been translated into English, Russian, and other languages.

In 1950 he designed STANISILAUS, a parallel calculator for propositional formulae typed in Polish parenthesis-free form. Based on this technology, he and Klaus Samelson developed in 1955 the stack method of expression evaluation.

Bauer has received many national and international honors. He received honorary doctorates from the University of Grenoble and from the University of Passau. He was awarded the Austrian Wilhelm Exner medal and recently the IEEE Computer Pioneer Medal. He was also awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit (First Class) of the Federal Republic of Germany. He is a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and of the Leopoldina Academy in Halle. His highest awards have been the Bavarian Maximilian Order of Science and Art, and the Cross of Merit.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biographical

Batter, F.L., "The Cellar Principle of State Transition and Storage Allocation, Ann. Hist. Comp., Vol. 12, No. 1, 1990, pp. 41-49.

Significant Publications

Bauer, F. L., "Zür Darstellungstheorie der Spingruppen," Math. Annalen, Vol. 128, 1954, pp. 228-256.

Bauer, F. L., "Ein direktes Iteration sverfahren zur Hurwitzerlegung eines Polynoms," A.E.O, Vol. 9, 1955, pp. 285-290.

Batter, F. L., and K. Samelson, Automatic Computing Machines and Method of Operation, US Patent No. 3047228, filed March 28, 1958; patent awarded July 11, 1962.

Bauer, F. L., "The Formula-Controlled Logical Computer 'Stanislaus'," Math. Tables Aids Comp., Vol. 14, 1960, pp. 64-67.

Bauer, F. L., "On the Field of Values Subordinate to a Norm," Numer. Math, Vol. 4, 1962, pp. 103-113.

Bauer, F. L., "Fields of Values and Gershgorin Disks," Numer Math., Vol. 12, 1968,pp. 91-95.

Bauer, F. L., "Konvexe Kegel und die Oszillation," Wiss. Z. TU Desden, Vol. 17, 1968, pp. 1127-1142.

Bauer, F. L., "Angstl's Mechanism for Checking Well-Formedness of Parenthesis-Free Formulae," Math. Comp. , Vol.31, 1977, pp. 318-320.

Bauer, F.L., "Between Zuse and Rutishauser-The Early Development of Digital Computing in Central Europe," in Metropolis, N., .1. Howlett, and Gian-Carlo Rota, A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century, Academic Press, New York, 1980, pp. 505-524.

Bauer, F.L., "Cryptology: Methods and Maxims," in Beth, T., ed., Cryptology, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, No. 149, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1983.

Bauer, F.L., and M. Wirsing, "Crypt-Equivalent Algebraic Specifications," Acta Informatica, Vol. 25, 1988, pp. 111-153.

Samelson K., and F.L. Bauer, "Sequential Formula Translation," Comm. ACM, Vol. 2, Feb. 1960, pp. 76--83.

UPDATES

Portrait inserted, MRW, 2012

Friedrich Bauer died March 26, 2015 in Munich. (THVV, 2017)