Abstract
Somewhere around that time I got to know Professor Jan Sleszyński in Kraków. He refused to write the kreska over a soft “s”, but this unorthodox orthography—which may have had something to do with “borderland phonetics”—was not his only eccentricity. For Stanisław Zaremba he represented a cult figure from the time when he was his teacher, and that is why he brought this retired professor from Odessa to the Jagiellonian University. Sleszyński was a born logician. He was closer to Shatunovsky and Kagan,
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Notes
- 1.
Ivan Vladislavovich Sleszyński (1854–1931). Studied under Weierstrass in Berlin, and held a professorship in Odessa from 1882 to 1909. His translation, with commentary, of Couturat’s L’alg`ebre de la logique greatly influenced the development of mathematical logic in Russia. Thanks to the recommendation of Stanisław Zaremba, appointed ordinary professor at the Jagiellonian University of Kraków in 1919.
- 2.
In Polish, a stroke (kreska), somewhat like an acute accent, over a consonant indicates that it is “soft”, that is, palatalized—pronounced towards the front of the mouth, in the vicinity of the alveolar ridge—in the case of “ś” like a softened English “sh”.
- 3.
That is, of the region bordering on Poland and Ukraine.
- 4.
Samuil Osipovich Shatunovsky (1859–1929), Russian-Ukrainian mathematician. After enduring great difficulties due to poverty, finally obtained a position at Odessa University in 1905. Worked on the axiomatic foundations of mathematics, among other things. Beniamin Fedorovich Kagan (1869–1953), Russian-Ukrainian mathematician. Head of the Department of Differential Geometry at Moscow State University from 1922. Worked on the foundations of geometry, in particular. Edited the complete works of Lobachevsky.
- 5.
Meaning, perhaps, not just the basic rules of the game but the theory of games.
- 6.
A rule for limiting the number of students admissible, sometimes used to impose religious or racial quotas—in the present case on the number of Jews.
- 7.
Zaremba graduated from the Sorbonne in 1889, and stayed in France until 1900, when he took up a position at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
- 8.
Władysław Natanson (1864–1937), Polish physicist and mathematician.
- 9.
Heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination precipitated Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia.
- 10.
In 1906 Austria-Hungary had imposed a customs blockade on imports from Serbia as punishment for Serbia’s attempting to evade economic and political control by the Habsburgs. The blockade was lifted in 1909. Prior to the dispute, most of Serbia’s exports had gone to the empire, with pork being the major export. The pigs were transported to Hungary for fattening, and most of them returned to Serbia for slaughtering and processing.
- 11.
“I did not want this war.”
- 12.
Józef Klemens Piłsudski (1867–1935), long-time proponent of the cause of Polish nationalism. When war broke out in 1914, he seized the opportunity of leading Polish troops against Russia in a loose alliance with the Austrians, although his real aim was Polish independence. From mid-World War I, Piłsudski was an important figure on the European political stage, being largely responsible for Poland regaining its independence in 1918. He was Head of State 1918–1922, First Marshal of Poland from 1920. Informal leader of the Second Polish Republic following the so-called May Coup d’´Etat of 1926.
- 13.
Express train to St. Petersburg.
- 14.
Count Moritz Freiherr von Auffenberg (1852–1928), a general in the Austro-Hungarian army. Count Viktor Dankl von Kraśnik (1854–1941), career Austro-Hungarian officer.
- 15.
Remus von Woyrsch (1847–1920), Prussian lieutenant-general. Called out of retirement in 1914 to command the Silesian Landwehr Corps on the Eastern Front.
- 16.
Now Preˇsov, in Slovakia.
- 17.
Then the imperial summer residence, now a major Viennese tourist attraction.
- 18.
Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (1881–1943), Polish military and political leader. Agitated for Polish independence before World War I. Fought with distinction in the Polish Legions during World War I, and in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–1921. Prime Minister of Poland from 1922 to 1923 and holding important posts subsequently, he fell out with the Sanacja government in 1926. Prime Minister of the Polish Government-in-Exile and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces during World War II until his death.
- 19.
In 1860, the government of the Austrian Empire was reformed by establishing a dual monarchy together with a bicameral State Council, to the lower house of which representatives were sent from the autonomous regional parliaments of the empire. The Polish faction in the State Council achieved official recognition in 1867 as the “Polish Circle.”
- 20.
Bobrzyński was then a minister for Galicia in the Austrian government, and Dzieduszycki a government appointee to the upper house. The point here may be that the representatives Dawid Abrahamowicz and Józef Hupka were members of non-Polish minorities, Jewish and German-Silesian respectively. However, according to other sources Dawid Abrahamowicz was a Polish conservative politician of Armenian origin.
- 21.
Walery Jan Sławek (1879–1939), Polish politician, army officer, and activist. A close aide to Piłsudski. Later, in the early 1930s, he would serve three times as Prime Minister of Poland.
- 22.
The part of Poland ruled by Russia.
- 23.
Near the beginning of the war, German officers had ordered the razing of the Polish town of Kalisz.
- 24.
Ignacy Ewaryst Daszyński (1866–1936), Polish politician and journalist. He would become prime minister of Poland in 1918.
- 25.
George Charles de Hevesy (1885–1966), Hungarian radiochemist. Nobel laureate in 1943.
- 26.
Józef Beck (1894–1944), subsequently a Polish statesman, diplomat, and army officer. Close associate of Marshal Piłsudski. Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs 1932–1939.
- 27.
Polish mathematician. Of great personal integrity, he refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the Austrian government. He was the main force behind the creation, after World War I, of the world-renowned Polish school of mathematics. Lived from 1888 to 1920.
- 28.
German mathematician. Student of Hilbert. Famous for his work in geometry, topology, and geometric group theory. Solved the third of Hilbert’s 23 problems. Fled Germany in 1939, eventually ending up in the US. Lived from 1878 to 1952.
- 29.
Ignacy Mościcki (1867–1946), Polish chemist and politician. President of Poland from 1926 to 1939.
- 30.
Franz von Uchatius (1811–1881), Austrian artillery general and inventor—in the field of cinematography, in particular.
- 31.
Kowel being situated then in the part of Poland ruled by Russia. Now Kovel′, a town in the far northwest of Ukraine.
- 32.
Swiss chocolate, as produced by Philippe Suchard (1797–1884), Swiss chocolatier and industrialist.
- 33.
The text in the Polish original is a travesty of Polish.
- 34.
“Weender Strasse is more beautiful!”
- 35.
“How do you get from here to Homburg-by-the-heights?” Bad Homburg vor der H¨ohe is a town in Hesse, Germany, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountain range.
- 36.
Meaning “Big Bears”. However, this name, which sounds Russian more-or-less, and the alternative Niedźwiedzie Większe given by the author, are likely inexact. (The Polish word for “bear” is niedźwiedź.)
- 37.
An anti-personnel shell filled with small shot or pieces of metal designed to explode in flight and scatter its contents.
- 38.
Meaning that the detonator is timed for short ranges.
- 39.
“Zielony” was the Legion pseudonym of Leon Gr¨unwald, an uncle of Stefania Szmoszówna, who became the author’s wife in August 1917. Zielony was a man widely known in society for a variety of talents: he was an excellent bridge player and a specialist in the settling of issues relating to offended honor, that is, fighting duels.
- 40.
Władysław Steinhaus died on September 30, 1915.
- 41.
“exempt”
- 42.
The Gorlice-Tarnów offensive of 1915 started as a minor offensive to relieve Russian pressure on the Austro-Hungarians, but resulted in the total collapse of the Russian lines, and their withdrawal into Russia.
- 43.
Anton Ludwig August von Mackensen (1849–1945), German field marshal. One of Germany’s most successful military leaders in World War I.
- 44.
A town in Podole, now part of western Ukraine, 135 km southeast of L′viv.
- 45.
Stefan Banach (1892–1945), Polish mathematician. Self-taught prodigy, and founder of modern functional analysis. Later to become a founder of the Lwów School of Mathematics and one of the most influential of twentieth century mathematicians. Steinhaus claimed that Banach was his “greatest scientific discovery”.
- 46.
Otto Marcin Nikod´ym (1887–1974), Polish mathematician. Connected with Warsaw University in the interwar period. Emigrated in 1946, arriving in the US in 1948.
- 47.
Witold Wilkosz (1891–1941), Polish mathematician. After completing his doctorate in 1918, taught in private secondary schools. In 1920 defended his Habilitation at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, after which he joined the faculty there.
- 48.
Władysław Ślebodziński (1884–1972) studied physics and mathematics in Kraków. Pioneered differential geometry in Poland. From 1942 to 1945 was in various concentration camps, including Auschwitz. Professor at Wrocław University and Polytechnic from 1945.
- 49.
In 1908 Puzyna proposed Sierpiński for a professorship, with the result that in that year one of the world’s first courses in set theory was given in Lwów. He also arranged for Steinhaus to take his Habilitation in Lwów, thereby establishing him in that city.
- 50.
Bestowing the right to give lectures at the University of Lwów.
- 51.
Town lying at the foot of the Tatra Mountains of southern Poland, a range in the Carpathians. A center of “highlander” culture. Called “the winter capital of Poland”.
- 52.
Permission to lecture.
- 53.
Temporary lecturer aspiring to a professorship.
- 54.
A peace treaty between the new Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic and the Central Powers, marking Russia’s exit from World War I. Since there was no mention of Poland in the treaty, its signing caused riots and protests in Poland, and the final withdrawal of all support for the Central Powers.
- 55.
Sierpiński spent the years 1914–1918 in Russia, having found himself and his family caught up there in 1914 when war broke out. He spent the war years mainly in Moscow working with Nikola˘ı Luzin. He returned to Lwów in 1918, but was shortly thereafter offered a position at the University of Warsaw. (The author’s claim that he returned via Siberia is dubious.)
- 56.
An armed conflict lasting from November 1, 1918 to May 22, 1919, between the forces of the Second Polish Republic and the West Ukrainian People’s Republic over control of Eastern Galicia following the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. The “Battle of Lwów” (or “Defense of Lwów”), in which the local Polish civilian populace participated, took place as one of the several fronts of the war.
- 57.
One of the hills of Lwów on top of which there once stood an old castle, much repaired and rebuilt, now in ruins.
- 58.
Polish dramatist, writer, and literary critic. Lived from 1873 to 1921.
- 59.
The Rusyns form an Eastern Slavic ethnic group, also called Ruthenians. A mountain-dwelling people of the eastern Carpathians.
- 60.
Venice-born actor and director in the theater, for instance in Zakopane and Tarnów. Lived from 1882 to 1925.
- 61.
A fictional, noble-minded Corsican bandit, the hero of Rinaldo Rinaldini, der R¨auberhauptmann, written by Christian Vulpius around 1800.
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Steinhaus, H. (2015). The Life of a Private Scholar. In: Burns, R., Szymaniec, I., Weron, A. (eds) Mathematician for All Seasons. Vita Mathematica, vol 18. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21984-4_6
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