Andrzej Bobola Maria Schinzel (5 April 1937 – 21 August 2021) was a Polish

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

studying mainly

number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777� ...

Education

Schinzel received an MSc in 1958 at

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 1960 from Institute of Mathematics of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

where he studied under

Wacław Sierpiński Wacław Franciszek Sierpiński (; 14 March 1882 – 21 October 1969) was a Polish mathematician. He was known for contributions to set theory (research on the axiom of choice and the continuum hypothesis), number theory, theory of functions, and t ...

, with a

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1962. He was a member of the

Career

Schinzel was a professor at the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IM PAN). His principal interest was the theory of

polynomial In mathematics, a polynomial is an expression consisting of indeterminates (also called variables) and coefficients, that involves only the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and positive-integer powers of variables. An exa ...

s. His 1958 conjecture on the prime values of polynomials, known as

Schinzel's hypothesis H In mathematics, Schinzel's hypothesis H is one of the most famous open problems in the topic of number theory. It is a very broad generalization of widely open conjectures such as the twin prime conjecture. The hypothesis is named after Andrzej S ...

, both extends the

Bunyakovsky conjecture The Bunyakovsky conjecture (or Bouniakowsky conjecture) gives a criterion for a polynomial f(x) in one variable with integer coefficients to give infinitely many prime values in the sequencef(1), f(2), f(3),\ldots. It was stated in 1857 by the Ru ...

and broadly generalizes the

twin prime conjecture A twin prime is a prime number that is either 2 less or 2 more than another prime number—for example, either member of the twin prime pair (41, 43). In other words, a twin prime is a prime that has a prime gap of two. Sometimes the term ''twin pr ...

. He also proved Schinzel's theorem on the existence of

circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is const ...

s through any given number of integer points. Schinzel was the author of over 200 research articles in various branches of number theory, including

elementary Elementary may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001 * ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007 * ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977 Other uses in arts, entertainment, an ...

, analytic and

algebraic number theory Algebraic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses the techniques of abstract algebra to study the integers, rational numbers, and their generalizations. Number-theoretic questions are expressed in terms of properties of algebraic ob ...

. He was the editor of ''

Acta Arithmetica ''Acta Arithmetica'' is a scientific journal of mathematics publishing papers on number theory. It was established in 1935 by Salomon Lubelski and Arnold Walfisz. The journal is published by the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sc ...

'' for over four decades.

References

External links

Schinzel's page at IM PAN
(list of publications)
Andrzej Schinzel's picture
1937 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Polish mathematicians 21st-century Polish mathematicians Number theorists Members of the Polish Academy of Sciences University of Warsaw alumni People from Sandomierz {{Poland-mathematician-stub