1. Kurt Grelling was a German logician and philosopher, member of the Berlin Circle.
12 Facts About Kurt Grelling
1. 2.
Shortly after his arrival in 1905 at University of Gottingen, Grelling began a collaboration with philosopher Leonard Nelson, with whom he tried to solve Russell's paradox, which had shaken the foundations of mathematics when it was announced in 1903.
3.
Kurt Grelling received his doctorate in mathematics from the same university in 1910 with a PhD dissertation on the development of arithmetic in axiomatic set theory, advised by David Hilbert.
4.
Kurt Grelling became a strong proponent of Russell's writings thereafter.
5.
From 1911 to 1922 Kurt Grelling published exclusively journalistic articles in publications connected with the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
6.
In 1915 his father, Richard Kurt Grelling, wrote the anti-war book J'Accuse, condemning the actions of the Central Powers.
7.
From 1924 onwards Kurt Grelling's publications were exclusively in the field of positivist philosophy.
8.
Unable to find a university position in either Gottingen or Berlin, Kurt Grelling had to teach mathematics, philosophy and physics in secondary schools.
9.
Grelling collaborated with Kurt Godel and in 1937 he published an article in which he defended Godel's first incompleteness theorem against an erroneous interpretation, according to which Godel's theorem is a paradox as Russell's paradox.
10.
Kurt Grelling was deported to southern France, where he was interned for over two years under the Vichy regime.
11.
Oppenheim and Hempel tried to help Kurt Grelling by securing an appointment for him at the New School for Social Research in New York City.
12.
News of the position and a visa to the United States reached the camp where Kurt Grelling had been joined by his wife Greta, who had refused to divorce him for safety reasons.