(Tribute in memory of Constantin Carathéodory, who passed away on 02/02/1950)

Constantin Carathéodory, one of the leading mathematicians of the 20th century, was born in 1873 in Berlin, where his father, Stefanos, served as a diplomatic official of the Ottoman Empire. In 1875, his father was appointed by the Sublime Porte as ambassador to Brussels. The young Constantin grew up and studied in the Belgian capital, in a generous, open, and culturally rich family environment.
Carathéodory completed his studies at the Department of Engineering at the Belgian Military Academy, and later traveled to Egypt, where he participated in the construction of the Aswan and Assiut dams. There, he realized his true calling was mathematics, and in 1900, at the age of 27, he returned to Germany to study at the universities of Berlin and Göttingen, a science he served with knowledge, consistency, and passion until the end of his life in 1950, either as a professor at German universities and a visitor at American universities, or as a prominent researcher in the mathematical sciences.
The Carathéodory family, originating from Bosnokoiri in Adrianople, appeared in history in the mid-1700s and produced major scientists, diplomats, intellectuals, professors, etc., in the social, political, and cultural life of the era.
Carathéodory is known for his contribution to the founding of the University of Smyrna in 1920 by the Venizelos government and for drafting a study in 1930 for the reorganization of Greek universities.
To speak about the life and work of Carathéodory are his daughter Despina Rodopoulou, his biographer and mathematician Evangelos Spandagos, university professor and physicist Chrysoleon Simeonidis, and the mathematics student Marina Danezi.