Disgusted with Cantor, Kronecker launched vitriolic attacks against Cantor’s work and made it extremely difficult for him to publish papers. When Cantor applied for a position at the University of Berlin in 1883, he was rejected; he had to settle for a professorship at the much less prestigious University of Halle instead. Kronecker, who was influential at Berlin, was likely to blame. The same year, he wrote a defense against Kronecker’s attacks. Then, in 1884, the depressed Cantor had his first mental breakdown.
