The Lwów school of mathematics () was a group of 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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

s who worked in the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

(since 1945

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). The mathematicians often met at the famous Scottish Café to discuss mathematical problems, and published in the journal '' Studia Mathematica'', founded in 1929. The school was renowned for its productivity and its extensive contributions to subjects such as

point-set topology In mathematics, general topology (or point set topology) is the branch of topology that deals with the basic set-theoretic definitions and constructions used in topology. It is the foundation of most other branches of topology, including differ ...

set theory Set theory is the branch of mathematical logic that studies Set (mathematics), sets, which can be informally described as collections of objects. Although objects of any kind can be collected into a set, set theory – as a branch of mathema ...

and

functional analysis Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (for example, Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics ...

Members

Notable members of the Lwów school of mathematics included: *

Stefan Banach Stefan Banach ( ; 30 March 1892 – 31 August 1945) was a Polish mathematician who is generally considered one of the 20th century's most important and influential mathematicians. He was the founder of modern functional analysis, and an original ...

Feliks Barański Feliks Barański (1915-2006) was a Polish mathematician and an active member of the so-called Lwów School of Mathematics. Born May 1915 in Lwów, Austria-Hungary (modern Lviv, Ukraine), he joined the circle of young, talented mathematicians forme ...

* Władysław Orlicz * Stanisław Saks * Hugo Steinhaus * Stanisław Mazur *

Stanisław Ulam Stanisław Marcin Ulam ( ; 13 April 1909 – 13 May 1984) was a Polish and American mathematician, nuclear physicist and computer scientist. He participated in the Manhattan Project, originated the History of the Teller–Ulam design, Telle ...

* Józef Schreier * Juliusz Schauder * Mark Kac * Antoni Łomnicki * Stefan Kaczmarz * Herman Auerbach * Włodzimierz Stożek * Stanisław Ruziewicz * Eustachy Żyliński The biographies and contributions of these mathematicians were documented in 1980 by their contemporary,

Kazimierz Kuratowski Kazimierz Kuratowski (; 2 February 1896 – 18 June 1980) was a Polish mathematician and logician. He was one of the leading representatives of the Warsaw School of Mathematics. He worked as a professor at the University of Warsaw and at the Ma ...

in his book ''A Half Century of Polish Mathematics: Remembrances and Reflections''.

The end of the school

Many of the mathematicians, especially those of

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish background, fled in 1941 when it became clear that the USSR would be invaded by

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Few of the mathematicians survived

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, but after the war a group including some of the original community carried on their work in western Poland's

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

, the successor city to prewar Lwów; see

Polish population transfers (1944–1946) Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

. A number of the prewar mathematicians, prominent among them

, became famous for work done in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

References

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lwow School Of Mathematics History of mathematics Education in the Second Polish Republic History of Lviv Science and technology in Poland Lviv Polytechnic

Members

The end of the school

See also

References

Further reading

Citations