Vogel was born in
Altdorf bei Nürnberg to Johann Georg Vogel and Ehefrau Maria. He attended school in
Bayreuth,
Schwabach, and
Ansbach. From 1907 to 1911, he studied mathematics and physics with
Max Noether,
Paul Gordan, and
Erhard Schmidt in
Erlangen, and with
Felix Klein,
David Hilbert, and
Otto Toeplitz in
Göttingen. He passed his examination to become a schoolteacher in 1911, then served as an army officer from 1913 to 1920 before taking a teaching post in Munich. In 1940, Vogel was appointed to a professorship at the
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where he spent the remainder of his career. He studied a variety of mathematical texts from Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, and Chinese scholars, such as the
Rhind Mathematical Papyrus. Self-taught in several ancient languages, Vogel produced German translations of
al-Khwarizmi's
On the Calculation with Hindu Numerals (from the Latin translation,
Algoritmi de numero Indorum), and the Chinese treatise
The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art. Vogel officially retired from his post in 1963, but founded and led the university's Institute for the History of Natural Science and Mathematics until 1970. In 1969, he was awarded the
George Sarton Medal for his contributions to the history of science. ==References==