Remembering Klaus PetersSigurdur Helgason and Dana Scott, Alice Peters and David Mumford

Sigurdur Helgason and DanaScott

Klaus Peters as Mathematical PublisherThis piece is a supplement to a biographical notein the December 2014 issue of the Notices dealingwith the highly respected publisher of scientificbooks, Dr. Klaus Peters. Here we intend to describein more detail his remarkable career as a publisherof mathematical books.

After his doctorate in complex analysis in 1962from the University of Erlangen, Klaus servedas assistant professor at Erlangen for two years.Then he was invited by Springer Verlag to be itsfirst in-house mathematics editor. That same yearSpringer opened its American office in New York. In1972 Klaus was named one of Springer’s directors,and he hired Alice Merker, who had earned degreesfrom Rochester and Chicago, to be a mathematicseditor at Springer New York. They married thatyear, settled in Heidelberg, and worked there atSpringer Verlag. This account is based on AlicePeters’s recollection of their publishing activityduring the last forty years.

The 1970s were a boom time for Springer. Inaddition to several new major volumes, Klausstarted at that time at least two new book serieswith American editors: Applied Mathematical Sci-ences and Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics(edited by Halmos). At the same time Alice starteda computer science program at Springer. Thisincluded textbooks, monographs, and the variousLecture Notes Series.

Klaus felt from the start that in order to buildan enlarged mathematics publishing program hewould need a full commitment where he wouldhave responsibility for all aspects of the pub-lishing process: acquisition, editing, production,pricing, promotion, etc. He realized that in order

Sigurdur Helgason is professor of mathematics at the Mas-sachusetts Institute of Technology. His email address ishelgason@mit.edu.

Dana Scott is Hillman University Professor of ComputerScience, Philosophy, and Mathematical Logic, emeritus, atCarnegie Mellon University. His email address is dana.scott@cs.cmu.edu.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1090/noti1222

to build a world-class program, he would have tointernationalize and involve American mathemati-cians. Richard Courant, who had maintained closeties with Springer even through the war, was hisinitial contact. They immediately forged a greatrelationship, and Courant introduced Klaus to thewhole New York University/New Rochelle group,including Jürgen Moser, Fritz John, Kurt Friedrichs,Peter Lax, Cathleen Morawetz, among others, allof whom became trusted authors and advisorsand also close personal friends. He also had closecontact with Peter Hilton and Paul Halmos, bothalready editors of Ergebnisse der Mathematik. Theconnection with both Peter and Paul went beyonda professional relation, and Klaus considered bothamong his real friends.

Lecture Notes in MathematicsKlaus was strongly involved with the beginning ofLecture Notes.

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A signed cover of LectureNotes in Mathematics from

a celebration of its first500 volumes.

This may have come out of a discussion withBeno Eckmann (ETH Zurich) to find a way to dis-tribute preprints or private communications thatusually were sent only to a handful of closer col-leagues to a wider audience, in particular, students.Klaus was convinced that this would be consideredpositively in the mathematics community and

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that it was timeliness rather than typesetting thatwould be the hallmark of the series. At the time,no one expected that the series would become sosuccessful and respected. It now constitutes overtwo thousand volumes.

The Mathematical IntelligencerThe Mathematical Intelligencer was started byAlice, Klaus, and Walter Kaufmann-Buehler, theircolleague in the mathematics editorial departmentat Springer. Walter had been working with Klaus,doing promotion for the math program, and heswitched positions with Alice, taking her job atSpringer NY after Klaus and Alice had met anddecided to marry. The story of how and whythe Intelligencer started is documented in ananniversary volume of the Intelligencer, Vol . 30No. 1, 2008: pages 7–18 contain an interview withthe founders.

In spite of successful publication activity, Klausfelt that financial considerations were gradually be-ginning to outweigh editorial decisions at Springerand thus would not preserve his ideal that thepurpose of the company should be to do service toscience. He failed to reach a satisfactory agreementwith Springer owners on this issue and respectfullysubmitted his resignation.

From Springer to Birkhäuser to HBJto A K PetersIn accordance with Klaus’s point of view, Klaus andAlice decided to strike out on their own, intendingto realize what he saw as a mathematical publisher’sprimary goal: service to the mathematical public.In his article [1] he outlines his philosophy ofmathematical publishing, stressing particularly apublisher’s obligation to the author to maximize thebook’s usefulness to the mathematical community.Most mathematicians know publishers for whomthis obligation is secondary, even absent. A book,completely author prepared, may routinely be putout by a publisher as an eBook or printed only ondemand, with a price of US$100.

Following his vision, Klaus contacted ChariEinsele, owner and publisher of Birkhäuser, afterwhich Einsele immediately suggested that Klausand Alice move to Basel and “take charge” ofBirkhäuser. Klaus did not see this as a viablesituation, because he felt that a modern-dayscientific publisher needed to have an Americanoffice and program. So Klaus and Alice moved toBoston and started Birkhäuser Boston in 1979.

This was a courageous move: settling in a newcountry with three children under four and, with noprior experience, starting and running a company.Alice was the principal computer expert in the groupand became mainly involved on the financial and

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Alice and Klaus Peters.

production side. Klaus concentrated on the editorialwork, starting the series Progress in Mathematics,which has now over one hundred fifty volumes.Birkhäuser grew and was thriving but then was putin jeopardy when the Birkhäuser printing company,owned also by the family, ran into difficulties.Through his contacts, Klaus arranged a sale of thepublishing company to Harcourt Brace Jovanovich(Academic Press); however, this agreement fellapart because of a last-minute surprise takeoverby Springer. Klaus then preferred to do somethingindependent at that time, and, in fact, WilliamJovanovich quickly approached Klaus and Alice andasked them to start a new office for Harcourt BraceJovanovich(HBJ)/Academic Press in Cambridge.

The Peters then built and managed the Bostonoffice of HBJ, running Academic Press, and startedthe series Perspectives in Mathematics, which even-tually included eighteen valuable books. They wereresponsible for the publishing program in mathe-matics, computer science, chemistry, and physics,with several other editors for the other fields.Unfortunately, HBJ ran into financial difficultiesand was bought by General Cinema Corporation,which had little interest in the “idealistic” programenvisioned by Klaus.

Klaus, with his passion and idealism, convincedAlice that they should start their own publishingcompany! With the help of Elwyn Berlekamp theythen started A K Peters. The early years were hardfor them and the company, both because of thelong hours and financially. However, they heldto their principles of publishing only high-qualitybooks, even those whose sales would possibly belimited, as long as the books were of importanceto the scientific community. Alice went to BabsonCollege at night to complete work for her MBA inorder to have a better knowledge of how to operatea business.

As the company grew, Klaus’s interests alsogrew to include publishing in less-traditional

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areas for a high-level scientific publisher. A newjournal, Experimental Mathematics, was launchedwith the help of David Epstein and Silvio Levyand published by A K Peters. It was devoted toexperimental aspects of mathematical research,including mathematical influence (even proofs)by computer. This grew out of discussions Klausand Alice had with David Mumford. Among thenotable books they published were Hilbert andCourant, both by Constance Reid, The Honors Classby Benjamin Yandell, The Mathematical Experienceby Philip Davis and Reuben Hersh, You Can Counton Monsters by Richard Evan Schwartz, and ACultural History of Physics by Károly Simonyi, aswell as the popular book Mathematical People byDonald Albers and Gerald Alexanderson.

Klaus was extremely concerned about the stateof education and sought ways to make mathematicsmore appealing. He saw the possibility to make acontribution by publishing stimulating books foryoung adults: a (fictionalized) biography of Gauss,a book on cryptography (Cryptoclub), and a wholeprogram in recreational math, including origami,which he eventually worked on with the AMS. Thisreally became a passion for him in later years.

He also made Herculean efforts to find waysto publish books that he felt should be madeavailable, sometimes through clever sales of thebooks or through funding if the book could notsupport itself. With the last book that they pub-lished, Simonyi’s The Cultural History of Physics,A K Peters sailed forth in full publishing glory. Thebook embodies Klaus’s vision of the publication ofa moderately priced masterpiece of very generalinterest, which in this case can be considered awork of art. Amazon.com contains some glowingendorsements. Sheldon Glashow’s comments callit “fascinating for its wealth of data and for itsanecdotal digressions,” “marvelously filled withinteresting and unfamiliar historical and techni-cal explanations.” In fact, Glashow, with Klaus’seditorial help, was in the process of writing asupplementary volume.

A K Peters became what Klaus had envisioned:a company whose aim was to serve the scientificcommunity. For over forty years, Alice and Klausmade a significant mark on mathematical publish-ing throughout the world. In the process, theypublished over one thousand books and earneduniversal goodwill in the mathematics community.

References[1] Klaus Peters, Why publish mathematics? Notices of

the AMS, August 1999.[2] W. Kaufmann-Bühler, K. Peters, and A. Peters, Mathe-

maticians love books, Mathematics Tomorrow, Springer,1981, pp. 121–126.

Alice Peters and DavidMumford

Klaus Peters, Springer, and the Mission ofMath PublishersKlaus was a man with strong ideals who lovedpublishing and poured his heart into his work.His life and many contributions to publishinghave been detailed in the previous article. Herewe want to focus on a battle that he waged, onethat concerns the math community as a whole. Hefought fiercely for the ideal of publishing in serviceto the professional community and believed thatthis required full editorial independence. He wasnot afraid to put his career on the line for theseideals, and this led to his resignation from Springerafter he had nearly single-handedly brought themto the forefront of mathematical publishing. Howdid this happen and what does this mean for ourfuture?

Springer Verlag has worked closely with themathematical community for over a hundredyears. In 1923 Ferdinand Springer rescued thetwo preeminent mathematical journals of thetime, Mathematische Annalen and MathematischeZeitschrift, when they were in deep financial trouble.This resulted in a letter of appreciation signedby Richard Courant, Albert Einstein, and DavidHilbert, among others. This collaboration resumed,of course, after World War II, and Klaus waswelcomed into the firm by Ferdinand Springer withthe word “service.” He described the scene in anunfinished memoir as follows:

One day my phone rang: “Springer here,please come to my office.” FerdinandSpringer, the legendary publisher, did notusually deal with junior members of thestaff nor had I been formally introduced tohim. I went to his office unsure what thisall meant. His personal secretary kindly ad-vised that I should listen and quietly excusemyself when the “audience” was over. Onentering his office I was greeted warmly asthe new mathematics editor. Mathematicswas one of Springer’s favorite programs. Hethen proceeded to explain the raison d’êtreof a publisher: to facilitate the work of theauthors by taking away the burdensomeaspects of editing, producing, and mostimportantly distributing their work widely.He made it very clear that these added

Alice Peters is a publishing consultant and cofounder ofthe publishing company A K Peters. Her email address isalicepeters@gmail.com.

David Mumford is professor emeritus of mathematics atBrown University and Harvard University. His email addressis David_Mumford@brown.edu.

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values were the justification of a publisher’sexistence.

His fierce loyalty to authors and editors isconfirmed by another story. When FerdinandSpringer sought to leave the occupied city ofBerlin after World War II to rescue his family,he was stopped at a military control post.The commanding Russian officer demandedan explanation. Springer identified himselfas a publisher of scientific books andjournals (in his mind that was explanationenough) whereupon the officer commanded,“Tell me the names of the editors of suchand such journal!” Springer had retainedthe names of Russian scientists and editorson the masthead of the journals they hadserved, despite the war. As he recited thesenames, the officer suddenly interrupted,“That’s me, and I am honored to meet you.”He provided Springer with free passagewhich allowed him to rejoin his family.

In 1971–72, Klaus formulated a plan to changethe management of Springer from just the twoactive owners (Heinz Goetze and Konrad Springer)to a board of directors. He saw this as an importantstep in managing the growing company and asa necessary move for the future, as the ownerswere getting older. This plan was put in placewith a board consisting of directors for editorial,production, marketing, and advertising (a bit ofan anomaly, but that was an area that broughtin a lot of money), each with equal votes. Klausbecame the assistant to the editorial director andthen later became the editorial director.

Some years later, a decision was made thatthe CFO should also become a director and thathe would have the final say. Klaus very muchdisagreed with this decision and felt that it couldalter his ideal that the purpose of the companyshould be serving science. He had many talks withGoetze about this and tried to convince him thatthere should be an editorial representative at thetop (so to speak) on par with the financial director,and was always quite specific that it did not needto be him. When he was not able to sway Goetze’sopinion, he told Goetze that he and Alice weregoing on vacation to France for one month, andif he did not hear from him otherwise, he wouldsend in his letter of resignation on the last day oftheir vacation. Though he had just built a housein Heidelberg, had three children under the age offour and had “tenure” at Springer as a result of hisjoining the company from a university position,true to form he sent the letter of resignation. Hewas convinced that it would only be a matter oftime until financial decisions outweighed editorialprinciples.

In fact, Klaus’s beliefs were prophetic. Starting in1999, Springer went through a succession of acqui-sitions. In 1999 the privately held publishing andmass media firm Bertelsmann acquired a majorityshare of Springer Verlag and formed the academicpublishing firm BertelsmannSpringer. There werethree subsequent acquisitions by private equityfirms (in 2003, 2009, and 2013; the names ofthe firms are given in the Wikipedia entry forSpringer Science+Business Media). In each case, theacquiring firm expected that Springer’s return oncapital could be increased under their management.For example, extending new distribution rightsto scans enables a publisher to charge for onlineaccess to older articles that formerly generated norevenue. Early in the series of acquisitions, a groupof six presidents of mathematical societies cooper-ated at the 2002 International Congress of Mathe-maticians on a proposal to the chief executive ofBertelsmannSpringer to create a not-for-profit orga-nization to take over the mathematics publishingpart of the business. That was not to be. The privateequity firms had a responsibility to place a priorityon return on investment for their stakeholders, anincentive which often conflicts with the goal ofpublishing as a service, championed by Klaus,

Klaus understood this conflict of goals. In hisown words [1]:

The economic model of a scientific/technical/medical (STM) publisher plays a major rolein its relationship with and impact on thescientific community. The major factorsare pricing and distribution. Observingthe publishing landscape from the pointof view of the scientific community, oneis struck by the enormous difference inpricing between journals and books at thelarge conglomerates and at the smallerhouses. A closer look reveals that prices atlarge publishing houses are often higher bya factor of 2 or 3. An even more detailedanalysis shows that the higher pricing isdirectly related to smaller unit sales. The“chicken and egg” question comes to mind,and we believe that the answer lies in theeconomic model on which that publishingphilosophy is based. Selling fewer copiesat higher prices yields a higher profitmargin, keeps warehousing costs down,and generally requires less marketing effortand expense; the larger house can rely onits core market—the libraries—all the whileignoring the matter of expanding marginalsales. If one thinks of a publisher as anentity with an obligation to publicize and,therefore, to maximize the distribution ofthe ideas contained in its publications, such

March 2015 Notices of the AMS 267

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a publishing strategy certainly conflicts withthe latter goal.

The idea of publishing as a service to thescientific community is something that was a coreprinciple for Klaus throughout his life. In fact, justa few weeks before his death he wrote a short piecethat he titled “A vanishing dream,” articulatinghow essential this was to him—and to publishingin general.

Alice and I feel that we have lived a dream topreserve and provide a service that was onceconsidered worthwhile. I mean “publishingas a service.” Some time ago I came across thespeech that Ferdinand Springer gave in 1952after he had become a member of the RotaryClub in Heidelberg. That speech representsthe raison d’être and professional ethicsof publishing that I learned from Springerin a personal conversation and from HeinzGoetze in my early years at Springer Verlag.

That this concept (with few exceptions ofsmall individual publishers) is widely lost isno secret but what bothers me intellectuallyis the fact that publishing companies canbe run financially successfully without anintellectual mission and without thought tooptimize sales (by numbers of copies) orto produce well-edited and designed books.They compensate these shortcomings by op-timizing the bottom line through skimpingon editorial and production costs and off-setting revenue loss from smaller per-titlesales (by number) by inflating prices.

Mathematicians, by nature, want to concentrateon their work and resist worrying about themechanics of communicating their results to theircolleagues. But business models for publishing arechanging rapidly in this digital age. Whether thenew framework serves effectively the professionalcommunity or serves instead the financial firmsthat shift money from sector to sector followingthe scent of profit—this represents the major forkin the road that we are facing right now. Klaus’slife and writings have a clear message: you neednot be passive, and you can work to influence theoutcome.

References1. Klaus Peters, Why publish mathematics? Notices of the

AMS, August 1999.

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