Child and student
pp. 1-37
in: , L. E. J. Brouwer – topologist, intuitionist, philosopher, Berlin, Springer, 2013Abstract
L.E.J. (Bertus) Brouwer was born in 1881 in Overschie, now a part of Rotterdam. His father, a headmaster, moved to the town Medemblik in North Holland and subsequently to Haarlem. Bertus was mostly taught at home (his mother was a teacher too), and entered high school at Hoorn at the age of 9. After moving to Haarlem, he exchanged after two years the high school for the gymnasium (the Latin school). In 1897 he enrolled in mathematics, physics and astronomy at the Amsterdam University. The most prominent of his teachers was Korteweg, who had provided the mathematics for the theories of Van der Waals. At the student corporation Brouwer met Adama van Scheltema, later the leading socialist poet, who became his life long friend. Already as a gymnasium student Brouwer moved in artistic circles, a habit he kept up in later life.