Editing Rolf Nevanlinna (section)

==Education==
Nevanlinna began his formal education at the age of 7. Having already been taught to read and write by his parents, he went straight into the second grade but still found the work boring and soon refused to attend the school. He was then homeschooled before being sent to a [[grammar school]] in 1903 when the family moved to [[Helsinki]], where his father took up a new post as a teacher at Helsinki High School. At the new school, Nevanlinna studied [[French language|French]] and [[German language|German]] in addition to the languages he already spoke: [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]]. He also attended an orchestra school and had a love of music, which was encouraged by his mother:

{{Blockquote|Margarete was an excellent pianist and Frithiof and Rolf would lie under the piano and listen to her playing. At 13 they went to orchestra school and became accomplished musicians – Frithiof on the cello and Rolf on the violin. Through free tickets from the orchestra school they got to know and love the music of the great composers, [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]], [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]], [[Robert Schumann|Schumann]], [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]] and [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]], as well as the early symphonies of [[Jean Sibelius|Sibelius]]. Rolf first met Sibelius's music in 1907, when he heard his [[Symphony No. 3 (Sibelius)|Third Symphony]]. Although later he met [[David Hilbert|Hilbert]], [[Albert Einstein|Einstein]], [[Thomas Mann]] and other famous people, Rolf said that none had had such a strong effect on him as Sibelius. The boys played trios with their mother and their love of music – in particular of [[chamber music]] – lasted all their lives.<ref>{{cite book|title=Rolf Nevanlinna|first=W K|last=Hayman|series=Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society|volume=14|date=1982|pages=419–436}}</ref>}}

Nevanlinna then progressed onto the Helsinki High School, where his main interests were [[classics]] and [[mathematics]]. He was taught by a number of teachers during this time but the best of them all was his own father, who taught him physics and mathematics. He graduated in 1913 having performed very well, although he was not the top student of his year. He then went beyond the school syllabus in the summer of 1913 when he read [[Ernst Leonard Lindelöf]]'s ''Introduction to Higher Analysis''; from that time on, Nevanlinna had an enthusiastic interest in [[mathematical analysis]]. (Lindelöf was also a cousin of Nevanlinna's father, and so a part of the Neovius-Nevanlinna mathematical family.)<ref name=MacTutor/>

Nevanlinna began his studies at the [[University of Helsinki]] in 1913, and received his [[Master of Philosophy]] in mathematics in 1917. Lindelöf taught at the university and Nevanlinna was further influenced by him. During his time at the University of Helsinki, [[World War I]] was underway and Nevanlinna wanted to join the [[27th Jäger Battalion (Finland)|27th Jäger Battalion]], but his parents convinced him to continue with his studies. He did however join the [[White Guard (Finland)|White Guard]] in the [[Finnish Civil War]], but did not see active military action.<ref name=ICMI>{{cite web|url=http://www.icmihistory.unito.it/portrait/nevanlinna.php|title=Rolf Nevanlinna: Brief scientific biography|publisher=International Commission on Mathematical Instruction|first=Osmo|last=Pekonen|date=2013}}</ref> In 1919, Nevanlinna presented his thesis, entitled ''Über beschränkte Funktionen die in gegebenen Punkten vorgeschriebene Werte annehmen'' ("On limited functions prescribed values at given points"), to Lindelöf, his doctoral advisor. The thesis, which was on [[complex analysis]], was of high quality and Nevanlinna was awarded his [[Doctor of Philosophy]] on 2 June 1919.