Simion Stoilow or Stoilov ( – 4 April 1961) was a

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

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 ...

, creator of the Romanian school of complex analysis, and author of over 100 publications.

Biography

He was born in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

, and grew up in Craiova. His father, Colonel Simion Stoilow, fought at the in the

Romanian War of Independence The Romanian War of Independence is the name used in Romanian historiography to refer to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), following which Romania, fighting on the Russian side, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. On , Romania and the R ...

. After studying at the Obedeanu elementary school and the Carol I High School, Stoilow went in 1907 to the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, where he earned a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

degree in 1910 and a

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 Mathematics in 1916. His doctoral dissertation was written under the direction of

Émile Picard Charles Émile Picard (; 24 July 1856 – 11 December 1941) was a French mathematician. He was elected the fifteenth member to occupy seat 1 of the Académie française in 1924. Life He was born in Paris on 24 July 1856 and educated there at t ...

. He returned to Romania in 1916 to fight in the Romanian Campaign of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, first in

Dobrudja Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...

, then in

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

. After the war, he became professor of mathematics 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 M ...

(1919–1921) and the University of Cernăuți (1921–1939). He was an Invited Speaker of the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1920 at Strasbourg, in 1928 at

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, and in 1936 at

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

. In 1928 he was awarded the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

, Officer rank. In 1939 he moved to Bucharest, working first at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, and from 1941 at the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

, serving as

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

from 1944 to 1946 and as

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the Faculties of Mathematics and Physics from 1948 to 1951. From 1946 to 1948, he served as Romanian ambassador to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. In 1946 he was a member of the Romanian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, headed by

Gheorghe Tătărescu : ''For the artist, see Gheorghe Tattarescu.'' Gheorghe I. Tătărescu (also known as ''Guță Tătărescu'', with a slightly antiquated pet form of his given name; 2 November 1886 – 28 March 1957) was a Romanian politician who served twice as P ...

. In July 1947 he organized at Club de Chaillot the exhibit "L'art français au secours des enfants roumains"; Constantin Brâncuși participated,

Tristan Tzara Tristan Tzara (; ; born Samuel or Samy Rosenstock, also known as S. Samyro; – 25 December 1963) was a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist. Also active as a journalist, playwright, literary and art critic, comp ...

and

Jean Cassou Jean Cassou (9 July 1897 – 15 January 1986) was a French writer, art critic, poet, member of the French Resistance during World War II and the first Director of the Musée national d'Art moderne in Paris. Biography Jean Cassou was born at Bi ...

wrote the preface to the catalogue. In 1948 he was awarded the

Order of the Star of Romania The Order of the Star of Romania (Romanian: ''Ordinul Steaua României'') is Romania's highest civil Order and second highest State decoration after the defunct Order of Michael the Brave. It is awarded by the President of Romania. It has five r ...

, Grand Officer rank. Stoilow was elected corresponding member of 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 ...

in 1936, and full member in 1945, and later became president of the Physics and Mathematics section of the Academy. In 1949 he was the founding director of the

Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy The "Simion Stoilow" Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy is a research institute in Bucharest, Romania. It is affiliated with the Romanian Academy, and it is named after Simion Stoilow, one of its founders. History On December 2 ...

, serving in that capacity until he died. Among his students at the

and at the Institute were Cabiria Andreian Cazacu, Romulus Cristescu, Martin Jurchescu, Ionel Bucur, and Aristide Deleanu, as well as Nicolae Boboc, Corneliu Constantinescu, and Aurel Cornea. Some of the first Romanian topologists who obtained their candidate’s theses were Stoilow’s students

Tudor Ganea Tudor Ganea (October 17, 1922 –August 1971) was a Romanian-American mathematician, known for his work in algebraic topology, especially homotopy theory. Ganea left Communist Romania to settle in the United States in the early 1960s. He tau ...

, Israel Berstein, Aristide Deleanu,

Valentin Poénaru Valentin Alexandre Poénaru (born 1932 in Bucharest) is a Romanian–French mathematician. He was a Professor of Mathematics at University of Paris-Sud, specializing in low-dimensional topology. Life and career Born in Bucharest, Romania, he di ...

, and . In 1957, Stoilow was awarded the Order of the Star of the Romanian People's Republic. Stoilow died in Bucharest in 1961 of a

brain stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functio ...

. He was cremated at the ''Cenușa'' crematorium. Prior to the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...

of 1989, his funeral

urn An urn is a vase, often with a cover, with a typically narrowed neck above a rounded body and a footed pedestal. Describing a vessel as an "urn", as opposed to a vase or other terms, generally reflects its use rather than any particular shape or ...

was maintained in a crypt at the Carol Park Mausoleum.

Legacy

The

(closed in 1975 by a decree of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...

, reopened in the immediate aftermath of the 1989 Revolution), is now named after him. The '' Simion Stoilow Prize'' is awarded every year by the

Work

* * * Simion Stoïlow, "Leçons sur les principes topologiques de la théorie des fonctions analytiques", Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1956. * Simion Stoïlow, "Œuvre mathématique", Éditions de l'Académie de la République Populaire Roumaine, Bucharest, 1964.

References

* Cabiria Andreian Cazacu, "Sur l'œuvre mathématique de Simion Stoïlow", pp. 8–21,

Lecture Notes in Mathematics ''Lecture Notes in Mathematics'' is a book series in the field of mathematics, including articles related to both research and teaching. It was established in 1964 and was edited by A. Dold, Heidelberg and B. Eckmann, Zürich. Its publisher is Sp ...

, vol. 1013,

Springer-Verlag Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 ...

, Berlin, 1983. * "Analysis and Topology: A Volume Dedicated to the Memory of S. Stoilow", edited by Cabiria Andreian Cazacu, Olli Lehto, and Themistocles M. Rassias, World Scientific Publishers, 1998.

External links

Short biography

Short biography

at Obedeanu school

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoilow, Simion 20th-century Romanian mathematicians Romanian expatriates in France Mathematical analysts Titular members of the Romanian Academy Romanian delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1946 Recipients of the Order of the Star of the Romanian Socialist Republic Rectors of the University of Bucharest University of Bucharest faculty Alexandru Ioan Cuza University faculty University of Paris alumni Politehnica University of Bucharest faculty Romanian military personnel of World War I Carol I National College alumni Scientists from Bucharest 1887 births 1961 deaths Ambassadors of Romania to France Chernivtsi University academic personnel Romanian university and college faculty deans Grand Officers of the Order of the Star of Romania Officiers of the Légion d'honneur