Otto Marcin Nikodym (3 August 1887 – 4 May 1974) (also Otton Martin Nikodým) was a Polish mathematician.
Education and career
Nikodym studied mathematics at the University of Jan Kazimierz (UJK) in Lvov (today's
University of Lviv
The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...
). Immediately after his graduation in 1911, he started his teaching job at a high school in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
where he remained until 1924. He eventually obtained his doctorate in 1925 from 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 o ...
; he also spent an academic year (1926-1927) in
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
. Nikodym taught at the
Jagiellonian University in
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
and
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 o ...
and at the
Akademia Górnicza in Kraków in the years that followed. He moved to the United States in 1948 and joined the faculty of
Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is ...
. He retired in 1966 and moved to
Utica,
New York, where he continued his research until retirement.
Personal life
Nikodym was born in 1887 in Demycze, a suburb of
Zabłotów (in modern day
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
), to a family with Polish, Czech, Italian and French roots.
Orphaned at a young age, he was brought up by his maternal grandparents. In 1924, he married
Stanisława Nikodym, the first Polish woman to obtain a PhD in mathematics.
Research works
Nikodym worked in a wide range of areas, but his best-known early work was his contribution to the development of the Lebesgue–Radon–Nikodym integral (see
Radon–Nikodym theorem
In mathematics, the Radon–Nikodym theorem is a result in measure theory that expresses the relationship between two measures defined on the same measurable space. A ''measure'' is a set function that assigns a consistent magnitude to the measurab ...
).
His work in measure theory led him to an interest in abstract
Boolean lattices. His work after coming to the United States centered on the theory of operators in
Hilbert space, based on Boolean lattices, culminating in his ''The Mathematical Apparatus for Quantum-Theories''. He was also interested in the teaching of mathematics.
See also
*
Nikodym set
*
Radon–Nikodym theorem
In mathematics, the Radon–Nikodym theorem is a result in measure theory that expresses the relationship between two measures defined on the same measurable space. A ''measure'' is a set function that assigns a consistent magnitude to the measurab ...
*
Radon–Nikodym property In mathematics, the Bochner integral, named for Salomon Bochner, extends the definition of Lebesgue integral to functions that take values in a Banach space, as the limit of integrals of simple functions.
Definition
Let (X, \Sigma, \mu) be a me ...
of a Banach space
References
External links
MacTutor Entry*
1887 births
1974 deaths
University of Lviv alumni
University of Warsaw alumni
University of Paris alumni
Jagiellonian University faculty
University of Warsaw faculty
Polish emigrants to the United States
Nikodym, Otto Martin
Kenyon College faculty
20th-century Polish mathematicians
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