Curriculum Vitae Prof. Eduard Stiefel
•1928-1932 studies in mathematics & physics Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ)
•1932/33 stages at the universities of Hamburg and Göttingen
•1933-5 assistant in mathematics ETHZ
•1935 PhD in math. at ETHZ thesis  in topology (adviser prof. Heinz Hopf)
•1936 - 1943 lecturer in mathematics ETHZ
•1943 full professor of mathematics at ETHZ
•1946-8 head of department of mathematics and physics ETHZ
•1948-78 director of the Institute of Applied Mathematics IAM, ETHZ
•1956-7 president Swiss mathematical society
•1956-8 vice-president Swiss society of automation
•1970 president Society of Applied Mathematics and Mechanics
•1971 Dr. h.c. Univ. Louvain
•1974 Dr. h.c. Universities Würzburg and Braunschweig
•1978 November 25 death
•1909 April 21 born in Zürich, son of Eduard Stiefel well-known Swiss artist
•1958-66 councillor City of Zürich
3.1
Stiefel was a very broadly interested creative mathematician. He began his career as a topologist and made notable contributions in this field. In 1948 he changed the direction of his research completely and got interested in computers and numerical analysis. It must not have been an easy change because he was well aware of the disdain  many contemporary outstanding pure mathematicians harbored for applied mathematics which they called "dirty mathematics". In this context belongs the following passage in his report about his first trip to the US which took place from 10/18/1948 – 3/12/11949: (translated into English): "Remarkable is the effacing of the boundary between pure and applied mathematics, between mathematician and engineer. The rigorous division between professors of pure and those of applied mathematics, as it was earlier usual in German universities, is abandoned. Leading is the type of the pure mathematician but interested in the applications. The needs of computer technology have resulted everywhere in the training of young people who possess a thorough knowledge of  math and electronics at the same time and who are capable to adapt a given problem mathematically optimally to the machine."
He gave a permanent place to computer sciences at the ETHZ by creating and directing the IAM for 30 years.
Besides his comparatively short political career he devoted considerable time to serving in the Swiss army where he advanced to the rank of colonel. In this position he commanded the meteorological services of the artillery.