Petr Vopěnka (16 May 1935 – 20 March 2015) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

. In the early seventies, he developed

alternative set theory In mathematical logic, an alternative set theory is any of the alternative mathematical approaches to the concept of set and any alternative to the de facto standard set theory described in axiomatic set theory by the axioms of Zermelo–Fraenke ...

(i.e. alternative to the classical Cantor theory), which he subsequently developed in a series of articles and monographs. Vopěnka’s name is associated with many mathematical achievements, including Vopěnka's principle. Since the mid-eighties he concerned himself with philosophical questions of mathematics (particularly vis-à-vis

Husserl Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of phenomenology. In his early work, he elaborated critiques of historicism and of psychologism in ...

ian

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839� ...

). Vopěnka served as the Minister of Education of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

(then part of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

) from 1990 to 1992 within the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Petr Pithart Petr Pithart (born 2 January 1941) is a Czech politician, lawyer and political scientist who served as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (then a federal region of Czechoslovakia) from 6 February 1990 to 2 July 1992. He was also the Senator fo ...

Biography

Petr Vopěnka grew up in small town of Dolní Kralovice. After finishing gymnasium in

Ledeč nad Sázavou Ledeč nad Sázavou (; until 1921 Ledeč) is a town in Havlíčkův Brod District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,700 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Cz ...

in 1953 he went to study mathematics at the Mathematics and Physics Faculty of

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

, graduating in 1958. In 1962 he was made

Candidate of Sciences A Candidate of Sciences is a Doctor of Philosophy, PhD-equivalent academic research degree in all the post-Soviet countries with the exception of Ukraine, and until the 1990s it was also awarded in Central and Eastern European countries. It is ...

(CSc) and in 1967

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

(DrSc). His advisors were

Eduard Čech Eduard Čech (; 29 June 1893 – 15 March 1960) was a Czech mathematician. His research interests included projective differential geometry and topology. He is especially known for the technique known as Stone–Čech compactification (in topo ...

and Ladislav Rieger. Starting in 1958 Vopěnka taught at the Mathematics and Physics Faculty, since 1964 as lecturer, since 1965 as senior lecturer. In 1968 he was made

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

but was prevented to take this title until 1990 due to political reasons. Between 1966 and 1969 Vopěnka served as Vice Dean of the faculty. In 1967 Vopěnka became head of the newly established Department of Mathematical Logic. The department was abolished in 1970 and Vopěnka, though allowed to stay at the university, fell into disfavour with the regime, which limited his contacts with foreign mathematicians. During the 1970s and 1980s he concentrated on philosophy and history of mathematics and on phenomenology of infinity. After the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

, in January 1990, Vopěnka became Deputy Rector of the Charles University. During the period June 1990 – July 1992 he served as Minister of Education of the Czech Republic (then part of Czechoslovakia). In this position he, without much of success and facing protests from the teachers, attempted to institute school reforms. In 1992 the Department of Mathematical Logic was reopened and Vopěnka became its head. In 2000 he retired from the Charles University and the department was closed. Until 2009 Vopěnka worked as a professor at the Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, in the Department of Mathematics of the Faculty of Science. Petr Vopěnka also participated in translation and publishing of early mathematical texts (such as works of

Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

and Al-Khwarezmi) into the Czech language, and then he worked at the Department of Philosophy and Department of Interdisciplinary Activities,

University of West Bohemia The University of West Bohemia in Pilsen (, ZČU) is a university in Plzeň, Czech Republic. It was founded in 1991 and consists of nine faculties. History The university was formed by the merger of the ''College of Mechanical and Electrical E ...

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

Bibliography

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Notes

References

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External links

Short biography in English

Documentary about Vopěnka
(in Czech with English subtitles, freely downloadable) {{DEFAULTSORT:Vopenka, Petr 1935 births 2015 deaths Education ministers of the Czech Republic Czech mathematicians 20th-century Czech philosophers Set theorists Historians of mathematics Recipients of Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) Mathematicians from Prague Academic staff of the University of West Bohemia Christian Democratic Party (Czech Republic) politicians

Biography

Bibliography

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links