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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

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 (, ) is a public university, 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 ...

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

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

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

David Hilbert David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician and philosopher of mathematics and one of the most influential mathematicians of his time. Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental idea ...

Hermann Minkowski Hermann Minkowski (22 June 1864 – 12 January 1909) was a mathematician and professor at the University of Königsberg, the University of Zürich, and the University of Göttingen, described variously as German, Polish, Lithuanian-German, o ...

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 set theory, Z ...

. 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 Lebesgue integration, theory of integration, which was a generalization of the 17th-century concept of integration—summing the area between an ...

. 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 or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he was a soldier in the Polish Legions of

Józef Piłsudski Józef Klemens Piłsudski (; 5 December 1867 – 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (Poland), Chief of State (1918–1922) and first Marshal of Poland (from 1920). In the aftermath of World War I, he beca ...

, 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, near Zwoleń. From Boiska he moved on to Ewin, near Włoszczowa, where he directed a shelter for homeless children. In 1917 he published an article "''O potrzebach matematyki w Polsce''" ("On the Needs of Mathematics in Poland") in the journal ''Nauka Polska'' (''Polish Learning''), thus initiating the Polish School of Mathematics. He also founded the journal ''

Fundamenta Mathematicae ''Fundamenta Mathematicae'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of mathematics with a special focus on the foundations of mathematics, concentrating on set theory, mathematical logic, topology and its interactions with algebra, and dynamical sys ...

''. Janiszewski proposed the journal's name in 1919, but the first issue was published only after his death in 1920. 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

Janiszewski was engaged to Janina Kelles-Krauz, daughter of Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz. The wedding date had been set, but he died before they could marry. His life was cut short by the

influenza pandemic An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads across a large region (either multiple continents or worldwide) and infects a large proportion of the population. There have been five major influenza pandemics in the l ...

of 1918–19, at

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 ...

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

cranium The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

for craniological study, desiring to be "useful after his death".

Samuel Dickstein Samuel Dickstein (February 5, 1885 – April 22, 1954) was a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Congressional Representative from New York (state), New York (22-year tenure), a New York State Supreme Court Justice, and a Soviet Union, ...

wrote a commemorative address after Janiszewski's death, honoring his humility, kindness and dedication to his work: While Janiszewski is best remembered for his many contributions to topological mathematics in the early 20th century, for the founding of ''

'', 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 doubtless saved many lives and was perhaps his greatest contribution to the world. On 3 January 2020, the 100th anniversary of his death, a researcher from Australia traveled 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