Władysław Ślebodziński (; 6 February 1884 – 3 January 1972) 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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

Biography

Władysław Ślebodziński was born on 6 February 1884, in Pysznica, and educated at the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

(1903–1908) where he subsequently held a teaching position until 1921. After 1921, he lectured at the State High School of Mechanical Engineering

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

and in the thirties, he was a visiting lecturer at the Poznań University and

Warsaw University The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well as 100 specializat ...

until 1939. During the

Second World War 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 ...

, he gave underground lectures, leading to his imprisonment. He survived three German concentration camps:

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

(1942–1945), where he gave underground university-level lectures as prisoner no. 79053, Gross-Rosen and Nordhausen. In 1945, he became a joint professor at Wrocław University and at the Wrocław University of Technology, and from 1951 he was a professor at the Wrocław University of Technology. With Bronisław Knaster, Edward Marczewski and

Hugo Steinhaus Hugo Dyonizy Steinhaus ( , ; 14 January 1887 – 25 February 1972) was a Polish mathematician and educator. Steinhaus obtained his PhD under David Hilbert at Göttingen University in 1911 and later became a professor at the Jan Kazimierz Univers ...

, he was a co-founder of the mathematical journal Colloquium Mathematicum. From 1949 until 1960, he was a Professor of the Institute of Mathematics of the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

. Władysław Ślebodziński's main interest was

differential geometry Differential geometry is a Mathematics, mathematical discipline that studies the geometry of smooth shapes and smooth spaces, otherwise known as smooth manifolds. It uses the techniques of Calculus, single variable calculus, vector calculus, lin ...

. In 1931, he introduced the definition of the

Lie derivative In differential geometry, the Lie derivative ( ), named after Sophus Lie by Władysław Ślebodziński, evaluates the change of a tensor field (including scalar functions, vector fields and one-forms), along the flow defined by another vector fi ...

, although according to J.A. Schouten, the term ''Lie derivative'' occurred first in a two-part paper by van Dantzig.Dantzig D. van (1932) ''Zur allgemeinen projektiven Differentialgeometrie I, II.'', Proc. Kon. Akad. Amsterdam 35 pp. 524-534; pp. 535-542 He was the advisor of 11 PhD theses. He was also doctor ''honoris causa'' at the Wrocław University of Technology (1965), at the

Poznań University of Technology Poznań University of Technology, PUT () is a university in Poznań, Poland. Poznań University of Technology is known as one of the best technical university, technical universities in Poland. University Ranking by Academic Performance, UR ...

(1967), and at the Wrocław University (1970). Prof. Ślebodziński was a member, President (1961–1963) and honorary member of the

Polish Mathematical Society The Polish Mathematical Society () is the main professional society of Polish mathematicians and represents Polish mathematics within the European Mathematical Society (EMS) and the International Mathematical Union (IMU). History The society was ...

. He died on 3 January 1972, in

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 ...

, and is buried in the Wrocław, Cemetery Sępolno.

Notes

References

* Classical approach using coordinates. {{DEFAULTSORT:Slebodzinski, Wladyslaw 1884 births 1972 deaths 20th-century Polish mathematicians Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp survivors Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Gross-Rosen concentration camp survivors Jagiellonian University alumni Academic staff of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań Academic staff of the University of Wrocław

Biography

See also

Notes

References