"It is one thing to reflect, as Bieberbach did, for instance on the relative pedagogical merit of different ways to introduce π in a calculus class: geometrically via the circle, or in Landau's way via the zeroes of the cosine, with this function being defined by the power series. And it is quite a different matter to use such reflections as a basis for the forced removal of a distinguished colleague from teaching. Bieberbach's behaviour came all the more as a shock as nothing in his previous biography seemed to prepare one for it..."
January 1, 1970