Wacław Sierpiński

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Anna Sierpińska.
"Sierpiński" redirects here. For the fractal named after him, see
Sierpiński Triangle
.
Wacław Sierpiński
Sierpinski number
Sierpiński cube
Sierpiński's constant
Sierpiński set
Sierpiński game
Sierpiński space
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
Doctoral advisorStanisław Zaremba
Georgy Voronoy
Doctoral studentsJerzy Browkin
Edward Marczewski
Stefan Mazurkiewicz
Jerzy Neyman
Stanisław Ruziewicz
Andrzej Schinzel

Wacław Franciszek Sierpiński (Polish: [ˈvat͡swaf fraɲˈt͡ɕiʂɛk ɕɛrˈpij̃skʲi] ⓘ; 14 March 1882 – 21 October 1969) was a Polish mathematician.[1] He was known for contributions to set theory (research on the axiom of choice and the continuum hypothesis), number theory, theory of functions, and topology. He published over 700 papers and 50 books.

Three well-known fractals are named after him (the Sierpiński triangle, the Sierpiński carpet, and the Sierpiński curve), as are Sierpiński numbers and the associated Sierpiński problem.

Educational background

Polish Cipher Bureau
Biuro Szyfrów
Methods and technology
Locations
Personnel
Deputy Chief
Chief of Radio Intelligence
Chief of German Section
Maksymilian Ciężki
Chief of Russian Section
Jan Graliński
Russian Section cryptologist
Piotr Smoleński

Sierpiński enrolled in the Department of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Warsaw in 1899 and graduated five years later.[2] In 1903, while still at the University of Warsaw, the Department of Mathematics and Physics offered a prize for the best essay from a student on Voronoy's contribution to number theory. Sierpiński was awarded a gold medal for his essay, thus laying the foundation for his first major mathematical contribution. Unwilling for his work to be published in Russian, he withheld it until 1907, when it was published in Samuel Dickstein's mathematical magazine 'Prace Matematyczno-Fizyczne' (Polish: 'The Works of Mathematics and Physics').

After his graduation in 1904, Sierpiński worked as a school teacher of mathematics and physics in Warsaw. However, when the school closed because of a strike, Sierpiński decided to go to

University of Lwów. In 1910, he became head of the Faculty of Mathematics at the university.[3]

Career

Sierpinski square, a fractal

In 1907 Sierpiński first became interested in

Göttingen), asking how such a result was possible. He received the one-word reply 'Cantor'. Sierpiński began to study set theory and, in 1909, he gave the first ever lecture course devoted entirely to the subject.[3]

Sierpiński maintained an output of research papers and books. During the years 1908 to 1914, when he taught at the University of

Lwów
, he published three books in addition to many research papers. These books were The Theory of Irrational Numbers (1910), Outline of Set Theory (1912), and The Theory of Numbers (1912).

Grave of Wacław Sierpiński

When World War I began in 1914, Sierpiński and his family were in Russia. To avoid the persecution that was common for Polish foreigners, Sierpiński spent the rest of the war years in Moscow working with Nikolai Luzin. Together they began the study of analytic sets. In 1916, Sierpiński gave the first example of an absolutely normal number.[4]

When

University of Warsaw, which he accepted. In 1919 he was promoted to a professor. He spent the rest of his life in Warsaw.[5]

During the

General Staff's cryptologic agency.

In 1920, Sierpiński, together with Zygmunt Janiszewski and his former student Stefan Mazurkiewicz, founded the mathematical journal Fundamenta Mathematicae.[1] Sierpiński edited the journal, which specialized in papers on set theory.

During this period, Sierpiński worked predominantly on

differentiability of functions and Baire's classification
.

Sierpiński retired in 1960 as

Zentralblatt für Mathematik
.

In 1964 he was one of the signatories of the so-called Letter of 34 to Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz regarding freedom of culture.[6]

Sierpiński is interred at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw, Poland.[7]

Honors received

Honorary Degrees:

St. Marks of Lima (1930), Tartu (1932), Amsterdam (1932), Sofia (1939), Paris (1939), Bordeaux (1947), Prague (1948), Wrocław (1948), Lucknow (1949), and Moscow
(1967).

For high involvement with the development of

chairman of the Warsaw Scientific Society, and that same year was elected chairman of the Polish Mathematical Society
.

He was elected to the Geographic Society of

Academy of Science of Brussels (1961), the London Mathematical Society (1964), the Romanian Academy
(1965) and the Papal Academy of Sciences (1967).

In 1946, he received the Stefan Banach Prize of the Polish Mathematical Society. In 1949, Sierpiński was awarded Poland's Scientific Prize, first degree.

In 2014, a sculpture in the form of a tree inspired by a fractal created by Sierpiński was unveiled at the Wallenberg Square in

Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 10th anniversary of Poland joining the European Union and 15th anniversary of Poland joining NATO.[9]

Publications

Sierpiński authored 724 papers and 50 books, almost all in Polish. His book Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers was originally published in English in 1958. Two books, Introduction to General Topology (1934) and General Topology (1952) were translated into English by Canadian mathematician Cecilia Krieger. Another book, Pythagorean Triangles (1954), was translated into English by Indian mathematician Ambikeshwar Sharma, published in 1962, and republished by Dover Books in 2003; it also has a Russian translation.[10] Another work of his published in English is the Elementary Theory of Numbers (translated by A. Hulanicki in 1964), based on his Polish Teoria Liczb (1914 and 1959).[11] Another book, named "250 Problems in Elementary Number Theory" was translated into English (1970) and Russian (1968).

See also

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.4064/aa-21-1-1-5
    . Retrieved 2022-08-28.
  2. ^ "Wielcy Polacy – Wacław Sierpiński (1882 – 1969) – genialny matematyk, Trójkąt, Wolna Wola, Gra w Chaos i Cud nad Wisłą 1920". bialczynski.pl (in Polish). 20 August 2015. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b Paulina Rowińska (8 March 2019). "Zaczynali od zera, stali się legendą. Jak warszawscy matematycy podbili świat". wyborcza.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  4. ^ "Wacław Sierpiński". mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Wacław Sierpiński. Badacz zagadek nieskończoności". polskieradio.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  6. ^ "List 34 - pierwszy duży protest wobec polityki kulturalnej władz PRL". dzieje.pl (in Polish). 10 March 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  7. ^ "Warszawskie Zabytkowe Pomniki Nagrobne" (in Polish). Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  8. ^ "W. Sierpinski (1882 - 1969)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 17 July 2015.
  9. ^ "W Sztokholmie stanęło matematyczne drzewo Sierpińskiego". dzieje.pl (in Polish). 23 September 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  10. S2CID 127720835
  11. ISBN 978-0-08-096019-7
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wacław_Sierpiński&oldid=1216358149"