Κ. ΚΑΡΑΘΕΟΔΩΡΗ - Rockefeller

Reinhard Siegmund-Schultze, Rockefeller and the Internationalization of Mathematics Between the Two World Wars. Document and Studies for the Social History of Mathematics in the 20th Century. Birkhäuser Basel 2012.

Ο Κ. Καραθεοδωρή για τον Νίκο Κριτικο στη σελ. 68.

In many cases it was not even easy to lure mathematicians from "backward" countries into the fellowship program. On the one hand "the Board's work [was] but little known among them,"163 and on the other hand, the candidates for fellowships sometimes had better chances for jobs in their home countries than the young scholars from "developed" countries. So, for example, Greek mathematician Aristoteles Economou, who had been granted a fellowship due to the initiative of Greek-born German mathematician Constantin Caratheodory (1873-1950), had to resign the fellowship after he became professor at the Technical University of Athens. Caratheodory deplored this development because he "had expected much from Economou's fellowship for the development of mathematics in Greece."
Caratheodory then successfully recommended Greek mathematician Nikolas Kritikos and was supported by Edmund Landau (Gottingen) who called Kritikos a "former, highly gifted pupil."165 Caratheodory felt it important to stress the political context, partly in order to explain the relatively few publications so far by the candidate. Kritikos' political activities mentioned in that letter certainly met with approval by the Rockefeller people since they concerned the rescue of Western values:
"Dr. N.Kritikos, who had been my student in G6ttingen since 1914, assisted in my work for the erection of the University of Smyrna in 1920-1922 before the city was destroyed by the Turks."
So Caratheodory's application for Kritikos went through, although Caratheodory, at the same time, admitted that "Kritikos [is] not as good as German mathematicians but is better than [most]Greeks .... Is average from German standard."

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«Ο Δρ Ν. Κριτικός, ο οποίος ήταν μαθητής μου στο G6ttingen από το 1914, με βοήθησε στην εργασία μου για η ανέγερση του Πανεπιστημίου της Σμύρνης το 1920-1922 πριν η πόλη καταστραφεί από τους Τούρκοι».
Έτσι η αίτηση του Caratheodory για τον Κριτικό πέρασε, αν και ο Caratheodory, την ίδια στιγμή, παραδέχτηκε ότι «ο Κριτικός δεν είναι τόσο καλός όσο οι Γερμανοί μαθηματικοί αλλά είναι καλύτερος από τους [περισσότερους] Έλληνες… Είναι μέτριος κατά τα γερμανικά πρότυπα."

ΨΗΦ. (περιορισμέμη) Rockefeller

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