Zygmunt Janiszewski

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Zygmunt Janiszewski
Born	June 12, 1888(1888-06-12) Warsaw, Poland
Died	January 3, 1920 (aged 31) Lvov, Poland
Residence	Poland
Nationality	Polish
Fields	Mathematician

Zygmunt Janiszewski (b. June 12, 1888 in Warsaw – d. January 3, 1920 in Lwów, Poland) 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, believing he was fighting for Polish independence.

He refused to swear an oath of allegiance to the Austrian government, as it was too much for a loyal Pole such as himself. He left the legion and hid under the false name of Zygmunt Wicherkiewicz in Boiska, near Zwolen. From Boiska he moved on to Ewin, near Wloszczowa, where he directed a refuge for homeless children.

At the end of the war it was Janiszewski who was the main force in the remarkable creation of one of the strongest schools of mathematics in the world. It is all the more remarkable given the position in which Poland found itself at the end of the war.

Janiszewski donated the inherited family property left by his father for charity and education. His main interest was topology. He also donated all prize money he recieved 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 journal Fundamenta Mathematicae, a mathematical journal. Janiszewski proposed the name of the journal in 1919, though the first edition was published in 1920, after his death. It was his intention that the first edition be comprised solely by contributions from Polish mathematicians. It was Janiszewski's vision that Poland become a world leader in the field of mathematics.

His life was sadly cut short during the influenza pandemic of 1918-19, which tragiclly took his life in Lvov on January 3, 1920 at the age of just 31 years. He willed his body to be used for medical research, and his cranium for craniological study, desiring to be "useful after his death".

Samuel Dickstein wrote a comemorative address after Janiszewski's death, honoring his humility, kindness and dedication to his work -

Enthusiasm and strong will characterised Janiszewski not only in his scientific work, but in his life generally. His active participation in the Legions, his refusal to take an oath which was not compatible with his patriotic conscience, his work in the field of education, when at a most difficult time he entered that field as an enlightened and wise worker, free of any prejudice and partiality and ardently keen only to propagate light and truth - these facts prove that in the heart of a mathematicians seemingly detached from active life there glowed the purest emotions of affection and self-denial. If we also mention that, having very moderate needs himself, he dispensed all the means at his disposal to educate young talents, and that he bequeathed the property that he had inherited from his parents for educational purposes, and in particular for the education of outstanding individuals, then we may indeed exclaim from the bottom of our hearts that the memory of that life, devoted to the cause and interrupted so early, lives on in its results and deeds and will remain treasured and living for us, the witnesses of his work, and for generations to come.

Whilst Janiszewski is best remembered for his many contributions to the development of topological mathematics in his native Poland during the early Twenty-first century, the foundation of the journal Fundamenta Mathematicae, and his enthusiasm for teaching young minds; his loyalty to his homeland during the great war perhaps gives the greatest insight into his psyche. The orphaned childrens shelter he set up during the war doubtlessly saved many lives, and is perhaps his greatest contribution to the world. His premature death, while a great loss to mathematics, was an immense loss to society and the world as a whole.