Ilie Popa (July 20, 1907 – July 26, 1983) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n mathematician and Head of the Mathematical Analysis Department at the

University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mih ...

. He is known for his contributions to

differential geometry Differential geometry is a mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of differential calculus, integral calculus, linear algebra and multili ...

mathematical analysis Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions, limit (mathematics), limits, and related theories, such as Derivative, differentiation, Integral, integration, measure (mathematics), measure, infinite sequences, series (m ...

, and the

history of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments ...

. Born in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

, he attended the Costache Negruzzi High School in his native city. In 1927 he enrolled at the

, graduating in 1931. Upon graduation, he became an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Science of the University of Iași and began his research activity under the guidance of his advisor, Alexander Myller. In 1932 Popa published his first papers (in differential geometry), in collaboration with . He obtained his Ph.D. in 1934 with thesis ''Contributions to Centro-Affine Differential Geometry'', in which he pursued research themes of his two mentors, Myller and

Octav Mayer Octav Mayer ( – 9 September 1966) was a Romanian mathematician, the first to earn a doctorate in Romania. He completed his Ph.D. at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași in 1920; his thesis, written under the direction of Alexander Myl ...

. In 1936, the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

awarded him a two-year scholarship to pursue his postdoctoral studies in Italy and Germany; during this period, he visited Enrico Bompiani at

Sapienza University of Rome The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a Public university, public research university l ...

and

Wilhelm Blaschke Wilhelm Johann Eugen Blaschke (13 September 1885 – 17 March 1962) was an Austrian mathematician working in the fields of differential and integral geometry. Education and career Blaschke was the son of mathematician Josef Blaschke, who taught ...

at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

. While away, he was promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Higher Algebra at the University of Iași. After a brief stint in 1942 at the

Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași The Gheorghe Asachi Technical University ( ro, Universitatea Tehnică „Gheorghe Asachi” din Iași; acronym: TUIASI) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Classified by the Ministry of Education as an ''advanced research and educat ...

, he returned to the University of Iași as Professor. In 1948 he became the Head of the Mathematical Analysis Department, a position that he held until his retirement in 1973. From 1944 to 1945 and again from 1965 to 1971 he was pro-rector of the University.

References

1907 births 1983 deaths Scientists from Iași Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni Alexandru Ioan Cuza University faculty Romanian mathematicians Historians of mathematics Differential geometers Mathematical analysts {{Romania-academic-bio-stub