Janez Rakovec (April 22, 1949 – October 19, 2008) was a Slovenian

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 ...

. His principal field of work was topology, mainly

3-manifold In mathematics, a 3-manifold is a topological space that locally looks like a three-dimensional Euclidean space. A 3-manifold can be thought of as a possible shape of the universe. Just as a sphere looks like a plane (geometry), plane (a tangent ...

s. He worked at the Mathematics Department of the Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Ljubljana; in 1992 he was retired early. His bibliography comprises 73 units.

Life and work

Rakovec was born in Ljubljana to Eva Marija Rakovec, née Štalec, a housewife and to

academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. Accor ...

Ivan Rakovec, a geologist and paleontologist. He was their only child. After elementary school and high school in Ljubljana, where he graduated in 1968, he enrolled in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology at the University of Ljubljana. In 1972, under the supervision of Jože Vrabec, he graduated from the Mathematics department with the thesis ''Polyhedral Schoenflies theorem in three-dimensional Euclidean space'' and received the student Prešeren Prize for this work. In 1975, after completing his post-graduate study in

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 ...

, he obtained his master's degree from the same supervisor with the thesis ''Existence of homeomorphisms between 3-manifolds''. In 1979, he obtained his doctorate with the dissertation ''Surface groups in 3-manifold groups''. This time the mentor was Wolfgang H. Heil, visiting professor from the

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

From October 1971, Rakovec was a demonstrator at the Mathematics department of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology (FNT), and from January 1973 he was employed there full-time as an assistant. Since 1980, he was an assistant professor of mathematical analysis and topology. He taught

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 Fundamentals of topology to the students of mathematics, and Mathematics I and Mathematics II to students of pharmacy, textile technology, biology and other majors at the Biotechnical Faculty in Ljubljana. His basic field was topology, especially 3-manifolds. Besides his work at the University of Ljubljana he also taught at the mathematical seminars of the Society of Mathematicians, Physicists and Astronomers of Slovenia and training courses of the National Education Institute avod Republike Slovenije za šolstvo He published two books: ''Basic Concepts of Topology'' (1980) and ''Mathematical Structures. Examples and Solved Problems'' (1983).

Later years and death

In 1992, he had to stop working, also due to poor health and the consequences of an

illness A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

from his youth. After the death of his parents, he spent his last years in the Home of Mary and Martha in

Logatec Logatec (; , ) is a town in Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Logatec. It is located roughly in the centre of Inner Carniola, between the capital Ljubljana and Postojna. The town of Logatec has seen rapid industrial development and ...

Selected works

* ''Osnovni pojmi topologije'' 'Basic concepts of topology'' Državna založba Slovenije, Ljubljana 1980, 248 pp. * ''A theorem about almost sufficiently large 3-manifolds'', Glasnik matematički. Series 3, 1981, vol. 16(36), no. 1, p. 151-156 * ''Surface groups in 3-manifold groups'' (with W. Heil), In: RASSIAS, George M. (ed.). Algebraic and differential topology : global differential geometry. Leipzig: B. G. Teubner, cop. 1984. p. 101-133

Life and work

Later years and death

Selected works

References

See also