Tadeusz Ważewski (24 September 1896 – 5 September 1972)
was a Polish
mathematician.
Ważewski made important contributions to the theory of
ordinary differential equations
In mathematics, an ordinary differential equation (ODE) is a differential equation whose unknown(s) consists of one (or more) function(s) of one variable and involves the derivatives of those functions. The term ''ordinary'' is used in contrast w ...
,
partial differential equations,
control theory and the theory of
analytic spaces. He is most famous for applying the
topological concept of
retract, introduced by
Karol Borsuk, to the study of the solutions of
differential equations.
Biography
Ważewski was born in
Galicia
Galicia may refer to:
Geographic regions
* Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain
** Gallaecia, a Roman province
** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia
** The medieval King ...
on the 24 September 1896 to parents Stanisław Ważewski and Anieli Kozlowskich.
He would attend schools in
Mielec and
Przemyśl
Przemyśl (; yi, פשעמישל, Pshemishl; uk, Перемишль, Peremyshl; german: Premissel) is a city in southeastern Poland with 58,721 inhabitants, as of December 2021. In 1999, it became part of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship; it was pr ...
before attending the
Tarnow secondary school in 1914. Ważewski went to, originally, study physics at the
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
(
Krakow), but after being convinced by
Stanisław Zaremba, he would change his degree to mathematics.
Zaremba helped Tadeusz get a scholarship to study at the
University of Paris from 1921 to 1923 where he would continue the study of
topology and
set theory which Zaremba had influenced him to study. In 1924 he attained his Doctorate based on his thesis ''On Jordan curves containing no simple closed Jordan curve'' (French). Then in 1927 he was awarded the
Habiliation at the Jagiellonian University on the basis of the thesis ''Rectifiable Continuums in Relation to Absolutely Continuous Functions and Mappings'' (Polish).
Two of his advisors were
Émile Borel and
Arnaud Denjoy at the University of Paris.
In the years after his Habiliation he continued to work at the Jagiellonian University but his focus had moved from topology to analysis. Ważewski was made a professor at the university in 1933.
During World War II Ważewski was taken to the
Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg concentration camp where he would be kept until his release in February 1940. Once released he continued to teach in secret.
Ważewski worked as a full-time professor after the war at the Jagiellonian University in 1945. He was the head of the Department of Differential Equations for all of his life in the State Mathematical Institute. Ważewski was given a Doctor of Sciences (Mathematics) in 1953. After this he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1967 from the university.
In 1923 he was inducted into the
Polish Mathematical Society. Ważewski was made the president of the society for two years beginning on 1959 before becoming an honorary member in 1967.
Tadeusz died in
Rabka-Zdrój on 5 September 1972.
References
1896 births
1972 deaths
University of Paris alumni
Academic staff of Jagiellonian University
20th-century Polish mathematicians
{{Poland-mathematician-stub