很久以前,格廷根大学就已成为德国著名的数理中心。从大数学家高斯开始,这所大学逐渐形成这样一个传统,即数学家不单纯研究数学,而且有意识地以数学为工具去解决天文学、物理学等方面的实际问题。到19世纪末和20世纪初,这个传统为数学家克莱因进一步发扬光大,在该校增设应用数学、应用力学和技术物理三个系。意味深长的是,学工出身的普朗特得到了克莱因的赏识,被聘请到格廷根大学 A long time ago, Gottingen University has become Germany’s famous mathematical center. Beginning with the great mathematician Gauss, the university gradually came to the tradition that mathematicians did not simply study mathematics but consciously used mathematics as a tool to solve practical problems in astronomy and physics. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this tradition had further developed for mathematician Klein, adding three departments of applied mathematics, applied mechanics and technical physics to the school. Significantly, Prandtl, a former academician, gained recognition from Klein and was hired to Gottingen University