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' Places * Czech, ...

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 ...

. In the early seventies, he developed

alternative set theory In a general sense, 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–Fraenkel set ...

(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 In mathematics, Vopěnka's principle is a large cardinal axiom. The intuition behind the axiom is that the set-theoretical universe is so large that in every proper class, some members are similar to others, with this similarity formalized through ...

. Since the mid-eighties he concerned himself with philosophical questions of mathematics (particularly vis-à-vis

Husserl , thesis1_title = Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the Calculus of Variations) , thesis1_url = https://fedora.phaidra.univie.ac.at/fedora/get/o:58535/bdef:Book/view , thesis1_year = 1883 , thesis2_title ...

ian

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

). Vopěnka served as the Minister of Education of the

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

(then part of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

) from 1990 to 1992 within the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier 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. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Petr Pithart Petr is a Czech given name for males and a Czech surname. Petr is the Czech form of ''Peter''. For information on Petr as a first name, see Peter (given name). Given name * Petr Aven (born 1955), Russian billionaire banker, economist and politic ...

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 the Havlíčkův Brod District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,800 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban m ...

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

Charles University in Prague Charles University ( cs, Univerzita Karlova, UK; la, Universitas Carolina; german: Karls-Universität), also known as Charles University in Prague or historically as the University of Prague ( la, Universitas Pragensis, links=no), is the oldest an ...

, graduating in 1958. In 1962 he was made

Candidate of Sciences Candidate of Sciences (russian: кандидат наук, translit=kandidat nauk) is the first of two doctoral level scientific degrees in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It is formally classified as UNESCO's ISCED level 8, "do ...

(CSc) and in 1967

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

(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 __NOTOC__ Ladislav Svante Rieger (1916–1963) was a Czechoslovak mathematician who worked in the areas of algebra, mathematical logic, and axiomatic set theory. He is considered to be the founder of mathematical logic in Czechoslovakia, having be ...

. 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 post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

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 ( cs, Sametová revoluce) or Gentle Revolution ( sk, Nežná revolúcia) was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations agains ...

, 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 Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem ( cs, Univerzita Jana Evangelisty Purkyně v Ústí nad Labem, abbreviated as UJEP) is a public university in Ústí nad Labem in the Czech Republic. The institution was established on 28 Se ...

, 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 (; grc-gre, Wikt:Εὐκλείδης, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the ''Euclid's Elements, Elements'' trea ...

and

Al-Khwarezmi Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī ( ar, محمد بن موسى الخوارزمي, Muḥammad ibn Musā al-Khwārazmi; ), or al-Khwarizmi, was a Persians, Persian polymath from Khwarazm, who produced vastly influential works in Mathematics ...

) 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 ( cs, Západočeská univerzita v Plzni, 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 Me ...

in Pilsen.

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 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