Ina Kersten

Ina Kersten (born 1946)^[1] is a German mathematician and former president of the German Mathematical Society. Her research concerns abstract algebra including the theory of field extensions and algebraic groups.^[2] She is a professor emerita at the University of Göttingen.

Ina Kersten at the memorial colloquium for Ernst Witt, Hamburg, 1991

Kersten was born in Hamburg,^[2] and earned her Ph.D. at the University of Hamburg in 1977. Her dissertation, p-Algebren über semilokalen Ringen, was supervised by Ernst Witt.^[3] She completed a habilitation at the University of Regensburg in 1983.^[4]

Kersten was president of the German Mathematical Society from 1995 to 1997,^[2] which meant she was the first woman to head the society.^[5] Under her leadership, the society founded the journal Documenta Mathematica.^[6]