MacTutor logo MacTutor

Stanisław Leon Ruziewicz

Quick Info

Born
29 August 1889
Kolomea, Galicia, Austrian Empire (now Kolomyia in Ukraine)
Died
12 July 1941
Lwów, Poland (now Lviv Ukraine)
Summary
Stanisław Ruziewicz was a Polish mathematician who played a role in the founding of the Polish Mathematical Society and in the flowering of mathematics in Lwów between 1919 and 1939.
Thumbnail of Stanisław Leon Ruziewicz
View one larger picture

Biography

Stanisław Ruziewicz was the son of Franciszek Ruziewicz and his wife Teresa Jasińska. Franciszek Ruziewicz, born in Bolechów, Galicia, in 1853, was a craftsman and builder. Stanisław began his primary school education in 1896 and, when he reached the age of eleven in 1990, he began his Gymnasium studies at the 1st Gymnasium in Kołomyja. He quickly showed that he was extremely talented so after a year he transferred to the 3rd Gymnasium in Lwów since this provided a higher quality of education. He attended the 3rd Gymnasium in Lwów from 1901 to 1904 but his father died when only 50 years old leaving the family in severe financial difficulties. The only way that Stanisław could complete his secondary schooling was to return to the 1st Gymnasium in Kołomyja and to earn money by giving private lessons. Back in Kołomyja he spent 1904-1908 at the Gymnasium and obtained his secondary school certificate with distinction in 1908.

Given the financial position of his family, attending university was always going to be hard for Ruziewicz but he was prepared to earn money giving private lessons and live as cheaply as possible. He entered the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Lwów in the autumn of 1908 where he specialised in mathematics. At the University of Lwów, Ruziewicz attended lectures by the professors Józef Puzyna and Wacław Sierpiński. At this time Sierpiński was keen to build up a strong mathematics school in Lwów and he quickly saw that Ruziewicz was talented and encouraged him greatly. Ruziewicz worked towards a doctorate advised by Puzyna and in 1912 published his first paper, namely O pewnym zagadnieniu dotyczącym funkcji przemiennych Ⓣ. The paper begins as follows:-
In the article "Principles of Iterative Calculus" (1912) Mr Ł Böttcher proves the theorem that two functions, which are iterations of one and the same third function, are commutative, and adds that the question whether the converse of this theorem is also valid remains open.

I would like to answer this question negatively by giving a very simple example of two continuous, commutative functions which are not iterations of one and the same function.
On 15 October 1913 Ruziewicz graduated with a doctorate having submitted the thesis O funkcji ciągłej, monotonicznej, nie posiadającej pochodnej w nieprzeliczalnej mnogości punktów Ⓣ. Sierpiński's aim of building his school of mathematics was going well with Stefan Mazurkiewicz being awarded has doctorate from Lwów in February 1913 and Zygmunt Janiszewski habilitated at the University of Lwów in 1913 having spent time abroad. Ruziewicz was also encouraged to study abroad and, with support from Sierpiński, was awarded a scholarship by the Academy of Arts in Kraków which enabled him to go to Göttingen. He was thrilled to be in the group of talented mathematician gathered around Felix Klein and David Hilbert. But he could not be totally confident that he would be able to become a professor back in Poland so, while in Göttingen, as well as immersing himself in pure mathematics, he also attended Felix Bernstein's course on insurance mathematics thinking that this would look good if he had to seek employment in an insurance company.

World War I broke out in July 1914 when Ruziewicz was enjoying his studies at Göttingen and making good progress towards an habilitation thesis. Germany and Austria were part of the Central Powers who opposed the Allies including France, Britain and Russia. Ruziewicz was in Galicia, a part of Poland controlled by Austria. In the early part of the war, Germany attacked France and Russia attacked Galicia. Ruziewicz returned to his homeland and continued to work on his habilitation thesis, but in June 1915, he was conscripted into the Austrian army. In fact Lwów had been captured by the Russians in September 1914 but retaken by the Austrians in June 1915. Ruziewicz was assigned to the 24th Infantry Regiment stationed in Dévaványa in Hungary. Never physically strong, he was quickly seen to be of more use to the army in a clerical role and he was sent to Lwów, now back in Austrian hands, to work in the letter censorship office. Małgorzata Przeniosło describes in [9] how he suffered continuing illnesses during World War I:-
Due to severe arthritis, in February 1916 he was taken to the local Red Cross hospital in Lwów. After treatment in May he was transferred to Pöstyen (present-day Piszczany in Slovakia). Due to a recurrence of the disease, he stayed in several more hospitals, and at the end of 1916 he was assigned to the staff of his regiment in Freudenthal [present-day Bruntal in the Czech Republic]. Later, he performed clerical service in nearby Jägerndorf [present-day Krnov in the Czech Republic], interrupted by stays in hospitals. In January 1918, he went to Bukovina with a review committee. After returning in February, he was assigned to the writers' reserve in Lobnitz [present-day Wapienica, a district of Bielsko-Biała] and soon temporarily sent back to the letter censorship office in Lwów. He did not return to Lobnitz because of the epidemic of typhus there, and at the end of April he was given leave from the army (at the rank of sergeant) until the end of the year 1918.
Released from the army in April 1918, Ruziewicz was appointed as a mathematics teacher at a Gymnasium in Łańcut. He had actually completed his habilitation thesis O funkcyach ciągłych, monotonicznych, posiadających pantachiczne przedziały stałości Ⓣ before being conscripted into the army and it had been published in 1916 in Pracy Matematyczno-Fizyczne but he had not been able to carry out the habilitation process at that time. In July 1918, however, he was able to go to Lwów. Sierpiński, who had been in Russia when World War I started, had first been interned in Viatka but then allowed to spend the rest of the war years in Moscow working with Luzin. By July 1918 he was back in Lwów and, with Puzyna, he led Ruziewicz's habilitation examination on 3 July 1918. Ruziewicz was asked six questions and the committee unanimously agreed that he could proceed to give his habilitation lecture on 6 July. He delivered the lecture on set theory and its role in mathematics and it was unanimously agreed that he could become a docent and lecture at the university.

In September 1918 Ruziewicz took up a position as a substitute mathematics teacher at the 8th Gymnasium in Lwów. Now the University of Lwów was going through a difficult time for mathematics since Wacław Sierpiński and Zygmunt Janiszewski both left to take up positions in Warsaw while Józef Puzyna became ill and was unable to lecture. This left Hugo Steinhaus, who was an assistant at the time, as the only mathematics lecturer left in Lwów. World War I ended with an armistice on 11 November 1918 but German troops still occupied much of Poland. An uprising broke out in Poland with members of the Polish military fighting for an independent Poland. The Battle of Lwów took place from November 1918 to May 1919 as Polish troops fought for an independent Poland. Lwów was occupied by Ukrainian soldiers in November 1918 and fighting was fierce. It is believed that 76 students from the University of Lwów died in the fighting. Peace was restored in Lwów in May 1919 and in the following month the University of Lwów passed a resolution, called Memorial on Eastern Galicia, which demanded the inclusion of Eastern Galicia as part of a new independent Poland. Ruziewicz was one of the signatories of this resolution. The 1919-20 session began in September 1919 with lectures in Ukrainian being banned and any students who had fought on the Ukrainian side were banned. On 22 November 1919 the university received the official name of the Jan Kazimierz University.

There were now two vacant mathematics chairs at the University and decisions had to be made about filling them. There were two talented mathematicians teaching there, namely Ruziewicz and Steinhaus, and they were considered as candidates. Ruziewicz, perhaps reasonably, was considered too inexperienced at this time but Steinhaus, although more experienced, was controversial. He had a Jewish background and the Jews of Lwów had mostly sided with the Ukrainians in the recent Battle of Lwów. Much argument ensued and appointing someone from outside the university was considered but eventually rejected. Ruziewicz and Steinhaus had very different personalities and actually presented themselves as very different. Ruziewicz was rather shy while Steinhaus was very much the extrovert. On 1 August 1920 Steinhaus was appointed to the 2nd Chair of Mathematics. Ruziewicz was showing that he was rapidly becoming more experienced having published two excellent papers: Sur les fonctions qui ont la même dérivée et dont la différence n'est pas constante Ⓣ (1920); and O niestosowalności zasadniczego twierdzenia Rachunku całkowego do funkcyj, mających pochodne nieskończone Ⓣ (1920). A new 3rd Chair of Mathematics was established and Ruziewicz was appointed to that chair on 1 January 1921. In fact the opposition that Steinhaus suffered actually helped Ruziewicz since those wishing to oppose Steinhaus's appointment, but had no valid argument to prevent his appointment, were happy to create a new chair for Ruziewicz.

Steinhaus writes in [13] about these years in Lwów:-
It was Janiszewski who had founded a mathematical society in Lwów, later to become a branch of the Polish Mathematical Society. Its earliest members were Janiszewski, Krygowski, Żyliński, Łomnicki, Banach, Ruziewicz, and I, with Dziwiński attending quite rarely. Our little mathematical society flourished. It did not take long for Banach and Ruziewicz to achieve their Habilitation. Although Lwów University was growing scientifically, nonetheless the dominant mood in the town was one of postwar social chaos and bedlam: frenzied dancing and playing games, tripping hither and thither, libertinism with the accompanying temporary liaisons and betrayals - in a word, the release of the steam of freedom that had been bottled up for years, the reward for the wartime years of oppression and greyness. All this was characteristic of the years 1920-1923.
Steinhaus had brought Stefan Banach to Lwów in 1920. Although Banach was an extraordinarily talented mathematician, his love for mathematics was in proving theorems but he had little interest in writing up his results for publication. He also had little interest in writing letters and when he received letters he seldom replied. Ruziewicz was one of Banach's colleagues who played an important role in finding ways to publish Banach's results. Ruziewicz had his assistant make notes when Banach was explaining his latest results, then presented Banach with a draft of a paper. Banach was happy to see his results published and he would correct and improve the paper for publication, happy to find that he did not need to "waste time" doing what he considered the boring bits. Similarly, Ruziewicz helped in correspondence with Sierpiński who was the editor of Fundamenta Mathematicae where he published his own papers and helped organise publication of Banach's papers.

In July 1922, Ruziewicz married Teofila Zembrzuska. They had one son Zdzisław Ruziewicz (1925-1997) who was born on 13 June 1925 in Lwów. Zdzisław went on to study in Kraków and in Wrocław where he was awarded a doctorate in chemistry and later became a professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Technology.

Ruziewicz continue to play an increasingly important role in the strong mathematical group which were now at the Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów. For example he published Sur un ensemble non dénombrable de points, superposable avec les moitiés de sa partie aliquote Ⓣ in the second volume of Fundamenta Mathematicae in 1921. The Abstract reads:-
The aim of this note is to demonstrate the existence of an uncountable plane set, superimposable with two of its subsets which have no common points.
In the same journal he published Une application de l'équation fonctionnelle f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y)f(x+ y)= f(x) + f(y) à la décomposition de la droite en ensembles superposables, non mesurables Ⓣ in 1924. The Abstract of this paper reads:-
The aim of this note is to prove a very simple property of the function f(x)f(x) satisfying the functional equation: f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y)f(x + y) = f(x) + f(y), a property which will allow us to decompose the line into 𝓂 superimposable sets, everywhere dense, disjoint, non-measurable (L), 𝓂 being any cardinal number, satisfying the inequalities ℵ0≤\aleph _{0} ≤ 𝓂 ≤2ℵ0≤ 2^{\aleph _{0}}.
In the 1925 Volume 7 of Fundamenta Mathematicae Ruziewicz published Contribution à l'étude des ensembles de distances de points Ⓣ with the Abstract:-
The purpose of this note is to answer the following question: Question: What is known about a linear set, such that no point equidistant between any two points of this set does not belong to it?
He also published in the journals Wiadomości Matematyczne and Przegląd Matematyczno-Fizyczny with papers dealing with set theory, theory of functions of a real variable, and the theory of functional equations.

Ruziewicz's appointment to the 3rd Chair of Mathematics did not make him a full professor and in November 1923 he applied to the Ministry of Education for an appointment as a full professor at the Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów. His application was accepted and his new status took effect from 1 March 1924.

The First Polish Mathematics Congress was held in Lwów 7-10 September 1927. Ruziewicz was a member of the Organising Committee of the Congress, chaired by Sierpiński, and he was one of the four chairman of Section C: Set Theory and Functions of a Real Variable. The other three chairmen of Section C were Banach, Kuratowski and Saks. Ruziewicz was also put on a committee to set up the Polish Society of Teachers of Mathematics. The Proceedings of the Congress contains the short paper On functions satisfying the generalised Lipschitz condition by Ruziewicz which announced results that were to appear in two 1928 papers by Ruziewicz, namely Sur les fonctions satisfaisant à la condition de Lipschitz généralisée Ⓣ (1928) and Un exemple d'une fonction continue croissante ayant presque partout la dérivée nulle Ⓣ (1928).

As a teacher, Ruziewicz always delivered carefully prepared lectures but, probably through shyness, did not interact much with his students. His students described him as patient and fair [9]:-
Ruziewicz mainly taught classes on introduction to mathematical analysis, theory of analytic functions, differential and integral calculus, differential equations, number theory and set theory.
Mark Kac began his studies at the University of Lwów in 1931 and describes in [6] attending a course given by Ruziewicz in his first year:-
The proseminar had already been in session for a number of weeks when Professor Stanisław Ruziewicz announced the start of his lectures on 'Introduction to Analysis and Differential and Integral Calculus'. I had been especially looking forward to this course because I wanted very badly to learn calculus, after having tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to learn it by myself. The opening words of the first lecture came as a real shock. "Gentlemen," said the professor, disregarding the female one third of the audience, "I shall assume that you are familiar with the theory of Dedekind cuts." He then proceeded to define the rather subtle concepts of the limit superior and limit inferior of a sequence of real numbers. ... Somehow I was supposed to know this stuff. I came from one of the best schools in Poland and one which emphasised mathematics and science. Yet the most advanced mathematics I had had was a smattering of analytical geometry. ... Ruziewicz himself conducted a once-a-week, two hour problem sessions connected with his course in Analysis I. Usually, problem sessions connected with courses were conducted by assistants but for some reason Analysis I was an exception during my first year. ... Ruziewicz was very shy and he seldom looked at the audience, which may explain his failure to notice women in his classes. He came in and, with hardly a word, wrote a problem on the blackboard and then sat down and waited for someone to volunteer to come to the blackboard and attempt a solution. At first the problems were quite easy and the number of volunteers was sufficient to move things along. But as they became increasingly tougher the number of volunteers dwindled and after a while I was the only one left who had the courage to go to the blackboard. ... A few more words about Ruziewicz. He was a solid, good mathematician and had a number of valuable contributions to his credit. He was not in the class of Banach or Steinhaus but then, few were.
From 1926, Ruziewicz taught at the Lwów Polytechnic as well as at the University.

Eustachy Żyliński had taught at the Jan Kazimierz University from 1919 and, in July 1922, became a full professor there. He collaborated with Ruziewicz in writing textbooks and together they published, all in Polish: Algebra: handbook for the higher classes of secondary schools Part 1 (1926); Algebra: handbook for the higher classes of secondary schools Part 2 (1926); Algebra: handbook for the higher classes of middle schools (1926); Introduction to Mathematics, Elements of Higher Algebra and Number Theory I (1927); and Algebra: handbook for the higher classes of secondary schools Part 3 (1928).

The Polish Minister of Education, Janusz Jędrzejewicz, had convened a committee which advised on changes to the Polish education system. The Jędrzejewicz reform was approved for schools on 11 March 1932 and, on 15 March 1933, the reform was extended to higher education. The reform which gave the state the right to close university chairs and to dismiss professors was highly controversial. In an attempt to pacify objections, the reform was amended so that a professor who lost their job because their chair was closed would have full salary for a year during which time they could be transferred to another chair if it became available. This did nothing to make to reform more acceptable and protests continued but were ignored. In total 52 chairs at Polish universities were closed by the state, 13 at the Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów and 7 at the Lwów Polytechnic. In response to being informed on 1 September 1933 that Ruziewicz's chair was to close the Council of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the University wrote a strong letter to the Minister supporting Ruziewicz. The [9]:-
... very extensive letter defended not only the chair by emphasising the world class achievements of Lwów mathematics and the losses that such closure would cause, but also Stanisław Ruziewicz himself. The Council pointed to his significant scientific and didactic achievements and important character traits of an academic teacher - modesty, diligence, personal culture and fairness towards colleagues and students.
The letter was ignored and on 25 September 1933 Ruziewicz's chair was closed. It was claimed that such closures were made for cost-saving reasons but that is hard to believe since someone had to be appointed to do the teaching while the professor continued to receive his salary for a year, and then received a pension. There had for some time been rumours that Ruziewicz held National Democrat beliefs, although there is no evidence that this was true. Kac, who was Jewish, had been aware of the rumours and had been reluctant to ask Ruziewicz for a reference for a fellowship in 1932. Ruziewicz had, however, written Kac an amazingly good reference which got him the fellowship. Certainly Ruziewicz's colleagues believed that the real reason his chair was closed was because of the rumours - we will never know the truth of the rumour.

After Ruziewicz's chair was closed, the Faculty Council continued to give Ruziewicz their strongest support writing many letters to the Minister asking that his chair be reinstated. He was, for a time, allowed to give a few lectures but on 31 May 1935 he was dismissed completely. He was only 46 years old and, with only 21 years of service, did not receive a good pension. From October 1934, he gave commissioned lectures on financial mathematics at the private Higher School of Foreign Trade in Lwów, and in 1936 he was appointed to a regular chair of applied mathematics there. His appointment led to increased prestige for the Higher School of Foreign Trade which changed its name to the Lwów Academy of Foreign Trade. Ruziewicz was elected rector of the Academy in 1939.

World War II began on 1 September 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Later that month Russian troops invaded Poland and took control of Lwów. The Lwów Academy of Foreign Trade was renamed the Lviv State Institute of Soviet Trade and although Ruziewicz did not retain the position of rector, he was appointed vice-rector with a Russian appointed as rector, and he did retain his chair of applied mathematics. On 22 June 1941 Germany broke their non-aggression pact with Moscow and attacked the Soviet Union. On 30 June 1941 German troops took control of Lviv and on 3-4 July they arrested academics at the University and the Polytechnic. Professors working at the Academy of Foreign Trade were not arrested at this time. At about 5 p.m. on 11 July, however, a man in civilian clothes, speaking Polish, knocked on the door of Ruziewicz's apartment and announced that he was under arrest. He was led away and never seen again; it is widely believed that he was murdered on the day following his arrest. Ruziewicz's wife and son survived the war but never received any information regarding Ruziewicz's fate.
A Poster of Stanisław Leon Ruziewicz

References (show)

  1. M Becvarova, Development Of Mathematics Between The World Wars, The: Case Studies, Examples And Analyses (World Scientific, 2021).
  2. S Brzozowski, Ruziewicz, Stanisław (1889-1941), Mathematiker, Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon (1815-1950) 9 (1987), 345.
  3. R Duda, Leaders of Polish mathematics between the two
  4. R Duda, Pearls from a Lost City: The Lvov School of Mathematics (American Mathematical Society, 2014).
  5. R Duda, Lwowska szkoła matematyczna (Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, Wydawn, 2007).
  6. M Kac, Enigmas of Chance: An Autobiography (University of California Press, 1987).
  7. M D Kuzawa, Modern Mathematics: The Genesis of a School in Poland (College & University Press, 1968).
  8. O Petruk (ed.), Leopolis Scientifica. Exact Sciences in Lviv until the middle of the 20th century (Oleh Petruk, 2021).
  9. M Przeniosło, Stanisław Leon Ruziewicz 1889-1941, matematyk, profesor Uniwersytetu Jana Kazimierza we Lwowie, Wrocławskie Studia Wschodnie 12 (2008), 163-178.
    https://wuwr.pl/wrsw/article/view/6329
  10. Roczniki: Wiadomości matematyczne 40-41 (Państwowe Wydawn Naukowe, 2004).
  11. W Sierpiński, Stanisław Ruziewicz (1889-1941), Yearbook of the Warsaw Scientific Society (1938-1945) 31-38 (1954), 244.
  12. A Śródka (ed.), Historia nauki polskiej wiek XX: nauki ścisłe (Andrzej Biernacki, Instytut Historii Nauki PAN, 1995).
  13. H Steinhaus, Mathematician for All Seasons: Recollections and Notes 1 (1887-1945) (Birkhäuser, 2015).
  14. A Wachułka, The life and scientific activity of Stanisław Ruziewicz (1889-1941) (Polish), Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki 3 (4) (1982), 683-689.
  15. W Więsław, Letters from Wacław Sierpiński to Stanisław Ruziewicz (Polish), Wiadomości Matematyczne 40 (2004), 139-167.
  16. W Więsław, Stanisław Ruziewicz w świetle documentów, Antiquitates Mathematicae 3 (2009), 213-221.
  17. W Wilczyński, The work of Stanisław Ruziewicz (Polish), in History of Polish mathematics. II (Polish), Instytut Matematyczny Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, Wrocław, 2013), 239-245.
  18. W Wilczyński, The work of Stanisław Ruziewicz, Antiquitates Mathematicae 7 (1) (2013), 239-246.

Additional Resources (show)

Other websites about Stanisław Leon Ruziewicz:

  1. Mathematical Genealogy Project
  2. MathSciNet Author profile
  3. zbMATH entry

Cross-references (show)

Written by J J O'Connor and E F Robertson
Last Update November 2024