Zygmunt Janiszewski
| Zygmunt Janiszewski | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 12, 1888 Warsaw, Poland |
| Died | January 3, 1920 (aged 31) Lwów, Poland |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | University of Warsaw |
| Alma mater | University of Paris |
| Doctoral advisor | Henri Lebesgue |
| Doctoral students | Kazimierz Kuratowski |
Zygmunt Janiszewski (June 12, 1888 – January 3, 1920) was a Polish mathematician.
His mother was Julia Szulc-Chojnicka. His father, Czeslaw Janiszewski, was a graduate of the University of Warsaw and was an important person in finance, being the director of the Société du Crédit Municipal in Warsaw.
Janiszewski taught at the University of Lwów and was professor at the University of Warsaw. At the outbreak of World War I he was a soldier in the Polish Legions of Józef Piłsudski, fighting for Polish independence. With Piłsudski himself and other officers, he refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the Austrian government. He left the Legions and hid under the false name Zygmunt Wicherkiewicz in Boiska, near Zwoleń. From Boiska he moved on to Ewin, near Włoszczowa, where he directed a shelter for homeless children.
At the end of World War I, Janiszewski was the driving force behind the creation of one of the strongest schools of mathematics in the world. This is all the more remarkable, given Poland's difficult situaltion at war's end.
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.
He was the driving force, together with Wacław Sierpiński and Stefan Mazurkiewicz, behind the founding of the mathematics journal Fundamenta Mathematicae. Janiszewski proposed the name of the journal in 1919, though the first issue was published in 1920, after his death. It was his intent that the first issue comprise solely contributions by Polish mathematicians. It was Janiszewski's vision that Poland become a world leader in the field of mathematics—which she did in the interbellum.
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