Moufang planes. Ruth Moufang and her contribution to the foundation of geometry (Q5945671)

This is an excellent essay on the life and work of the German Mathematician Ruth Moufang (1905-1977). Nowadays, a projective plane is called a Moufang plane if in it the minor theorem of Desargues holds. So, the mathematical part of the article is devoted to various configurations that are relevant when dealing with Moufang planes. Alternatively, Moufang planes can be characterized by the existence of ``all possible'' elations and this point of view is carefully explained. Another part deals with the coordinatization of Moufang planes in terms of alternative fields. NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEThere are many remarks on the life of Ruth Moufang, her outstanding work in the early 1930's, her Habilitation at the University of Frankfurt am Main in 1936, the impossibility to continue her academic career due to the politics of the NS-regime, her work as a researcher during the following years and, after the Second World War, her activities as a professor of mathematics in Frankfurt.