Viktoras Biržiška (February23, 1886January27, 1964) was a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n mathematician, engineer, journalist, and encyclopedist of

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

extraction. His brothers were

Mykolas Biržiška Mykolas Biržiška (; 24 August 1882, in Viekšniai – 24 August 1962, in Los Angeles), a Lithuanian editor, historian, professor of literature, diplomat, and politician, was one of the twenty signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuan ...

and

Vaclovas Biržiška Vaclovas Biržiška (2 December 1884 – 3 January 1956) was a Lithuanian attorney, bibliographer, and educator. He was a member of a notable Lithuanian family; his great-grandfather Mykolas Biržiška was a representative in the Sejm of the Pol ...

Biography

He was the youngest of the three Biržiška brothers, sons of Antanas and Elžbieta Biržiska, all who contributed significantly to the

Lithuanian National Revival The Lithuanian National Revival, alternatively the Lithuanian National Awakening or Lithuanian nationalism (), was a period of the history of Lithuania in the 19th century, when a major part of Lithuanian-inhabited areas belonged to the Russian ...

. He studied mathematics and engineering at the

University of St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

between 1904 and 1908, and later at the

Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology (Technical University) () was founded in 1828. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Russia, and currently trains around 5,000 students. History In the past, the institute w ...

from 1909 to 1914. After completing his studies, he was appointed a director at a munitions factory in St. Petersburg from 1914 to 1920. He was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks and only returned to Lithuania following a prisoner exchange. While in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

he taught at the Lithuanian High School, worked with the Committee for the Liberation of Vilnius, and edited Lithuanian newspapers in both the Polish and Russian languages. As a result of his activities he was arrested for treason by the Polish authorities on February 5, 1922 and was almost shot. Through the intervention of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

, he was exiled to Lithuania together with his brother

and thirty-one other Lithuanians and

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

. His activities in Vilnius during the years of 1920–1922, and his struggle with the Polish authorities are elaborated upon in his book ''Neužgijusios Žaizdos'' (Open Wounds), 1936, 2nd ed. 1967 He held the position of Professor of Mathematics and Chief of the Mathematical seminar at

Vytautas Magnus University Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) (, VDU) is a public university in Kaunas, Lithuania. The university was founded in 1922 during the interwar period as an alternate national university. Initially it was known as the University of Lithuania, but ...

, and later from 1940–1944 at

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher education institutions in Central and Ea ...

. When the Red Army re-invaded Lithuania in 1944, he went into exile in the West. He worked as a professor at the Baltic University, founded in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, and later moved to

Pinneberg Pinneberg (; ) is a town in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein in northern Germany. It is the capital of the Pinneberg (district), district of Pinneberg and has a population of about 43,500 inhabitants. Pinneberg is located 18 km northw ...

. In 1950 he emigrated to the

U.S. 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 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

, and resided in Chicago until his death. In July of 2018, the remains of Mykolas Biržiška, his wife Bronislava, brothers Vaclavas and Viktoras were brought at the Vilnius University in Church of St. Johns. Viktoras Birziska resize resize

Publications

He published more than thirty scientific works and textbooks in Lithuanian, Polish and Russian, as well as ca. 300 articles in Encyclopedias and periodicals, mostly in Lithuanian. * ''Introduction to the Theory of Functions'',

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

1926 * ''Integral Calculus'', Kaunas, 1928 * ''Mathematical Theory of Probability'', Kaunas 1930 * ''Existence of Generalized Derivatives'', Journal Kosmos, Kaunas 1932 * ''Function. Kaunas'', 1934 * ''Theory of Numbers''.

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

1940–1944, 2 vols. Memoirs: *St. Petersburg at the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, ''Gyventų Dienų Prisiminimai'' *The struggle for Vilnius in ''Neužgijusios Žaizdos'' (Open Wounds), 1936, 2nd ed. 1967 *Vol. 3 of ''Del Mūsų Sostinės,'' (For Our Capital) Mykolas Biržiška's memoirs of the Polish occupation of Vilnius

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birziska, Viktoras 1886 births 1964 deaths People from Viekšniai People from Shavelsky Uyezd Lithuanian Army officers Lithuanian encyclopedists Lithuanian male writers 20th-century Lithuanian mathematicians 20th-century Lithuanian nobility Saint Petersburg State University alumni Academic staff of Vilnius University Academic staff of Vytautas Magnus University 20th-century Lithuanian journalists