Zygmunt Janiszewski (12 July 1888 – 3 January 1920) was a Polish

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 ...

Early life and education

He was born to mother Julia Szulc-Chojnicka and father, Czeslaw Janiszewski who was a graduate of the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

and served as the director of the Société du Crédit Municipal in Warsaw. Janiszewski left Poland to study mathematics in Zurich,

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

, where he was taught by some of the most prominent mathematicians of the time, such as

Heinrich Burkhardt Heinrich Friedrich Karl Ludwig Burkhardt (15 October 1861 – 2 November 1914) was a German mathematician. He famously was one of the two examiners of Albert Einstein's PhD thesis ''Eine neue Bestimmung der Moleküldimensionen''. Of Einstein' ...

David Hilbert David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician, one of the most influential mathematicians of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental ideas in many ...

Hermann Minkowski Hermann Minkowski (; ; 22 June 1864 – 12 January 1909) was a German mathematician and professor at Königsberg, Zürich and Göttingen. He created and developed the geometry of numbers and used geometrical methods to solve problems in number t ...

and

Ernst Zermelo Ernst Friedrich Ferdinand Zermelo (, ; 27 July 187121 May 1953) was a German logician and mathematician, whose work has major implications for the foundations of mathematics. He is known for his role in developing Zermelo–Fraenkel axiomatic ...

. He then went to Paris and in 1911 received his doctorate in topology under the supervision of

Henri Lebesgue Henri Léon Lebesgue (; June 28, 1875 – July 26, 1941) was a French mathematician known for his theory of integration, which was a generalization of the 17th-century concept of integration—summing the area between an axis and the curve of ...

. His thesis was titled ''Sur les continus irréductibles entre deux points (On the Irreducible Continuous Curves Between Two Points)''. In 1913, he published a seminal work in the field of topology of surface entitled ''On Cutting the Plane by Continua''.

Career

Janiszewski taught at the University of Lwów and was professor at the University of Warsaw. At the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

he was a soldier in the Polish Legions of Józef Piłsudski, and took part in operations around Volyn. Along with other officers, he refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the Austrian government. He subsequently left the Legions and went into hiding under an assumed identity, Zygmunt Wicherkiewicz, in

Boiska Boiska is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Solec nad Wisłą in Lipsko County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is approximately north of Solec nad Wisłą, east of Lipsko, and southeast of Warsaw Warsaw ...

, near

Zwoleń Zwoleń ( yi, זוואלין ''Zvolin'') is a town in eastern Poland, in Masovian Voivodeship, about east of Radom. It is the capital of Zwoleń County. Population is 8,048 (2009). Zwoleń belongs to Sandomierz Land of the historic provinc ...

. From Boiska he moved on to

Ewin Ewin is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * David Floyd Ewin (1911–2003), English administrator of St Paul’s Cathedral * Donna Ewin (born 1970), English former glamour model and actress * Paula Ewin ...

, near

Włoszczowa Włoszczowa is a town in southern Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, about west of Kielce. It is the capital of Włoszczowa County. Population is 10,756 (2004). Włoszczowa lies in historic Lesser Poland, and from its foundation until 1795 ...

, where he directed a shelter for homeless children. In 1917, he published an article ''O potrzebach matematyki w Polsce'' in the ''Nauka Polska'' journal, thus initiating the Polish School of Mathematics. He also founded the journal '' Fundamenta Mathematicae''. Janiszewski proposed the name of the journal in 1919, though the first issue was published in 1920, after his death. Janiszewski devoted the family property that he had inherited from his father to charity and education. He also donated all the prize money that he received from mathematical awards and competitions to the education and development of young Polish students.

Death

His life was cut short by the influenza pandemic of 1918–19, which took his life at

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

on 3 January 1920 at the age of 31. He willed his body for medical research, and his

cranium The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...

for craniological study, desiring to be "useful after his death". Samuel Dickstein wrote a commemorative address after Janiszewski's death, honoring his humility, kindness and dedication to his work: While Janiszewski best remembered for his many contributions to topological mathematics in the early 20th century, for the founding of '' Fundamenta Mathematicae'', and for his enthusiasm for teaching young minds, his loyalty to his homeland during

perhaps gives the greatest insight into his psyche. The orphans' shelter that he set up during the war doubtlessly saved many lives, and is perhaps his greatest contribution to the world. On 3 January 2020, the 100th anniversary of his death, a researcher from Australia travelled to Lviv and met with the director of Lychakiv Cemetery. Restoration of the grave was arranged, and the stone was restored. Janiszewski is buried in field 58, plot 82 of Lychakiv Cemetery.

Notes

References

* ''et passim''.

External links