Introduction.

In the pre-war period [before 1914] the number of Polish mathematicians was so small that there was no need to organise special mathematical congresses. The mathematical section created within the periodic congresses of Polish physicists and naturalists was sufficient for the scientific needs of the group of mathematicians at that time.

For example, the Mathematical Section of the 11th Congress of Polish Physicists and Naturalists in Kraków in 1911 gathered the majority of the mathematicians of the time: Messrs. Dickstein, Janiszewski, Kujawski, Łomnicki, Puzyna, Rosenblatt, Sierpiński, Stamm, Steinhaus. Wierzbicki, Zabielski, Zaremba, Ziobrowski and Zórawski took part, and the papers presented at the sessions of this Section, 15 in number, were published in the Proceedings of the Congress.

This state of affairs, however, changed fundamentally when our country returned to an independent existence. New universities, new centres of mathematical work, new mathematical journals were established, which played an important role not only here but in the scientific world in general. Many changes also occurred in terms of organisation: in 1920 the Polish Mathematical Society was established, encompassing all Polish mathematicians working scientifically, publishing its own journal and divided into Branches corresponding to university centres.

Under these conditions, the need to organise a Congress of Polish Mathematicians became increasingly clear. Organising a Mathematical Section within the Congresses of Physicists and Naturalists could no longer suffice. This was shown at the last XII Congress of Polish Physicians and Naturalists in Warsaw in 1925, which had among its 35 Sections also a Mathematics Section: only 10 mathematicians participated in this Section.

At the request of the Lwów Branch, the General Assembly of the Polish Mathematical Society, held in Krakow in the spring of 1926, resolved to organise the 1st Polish Mathematics Congress in Lwów in 1927 and entrusted the entire organisation of the Congress to this Branch. The Organising Committee elected by the Lwów Branch chose the Honorary Committee, set the date of the Congress for 7-10 September 1927, and created 10 Sections. It was decided to expand the group of participants of the Congress by inviting, in addition to all Polish mathematicians, also those mathematicians of foreign nationalities who published their scientific works in Polish journals and those who remained in closer scientific contact with Polish mathematicians. All School District Boards were informed of the Congress in a separate letter, drawing attention to the importance of the Mathematics Didactics Section.

The contribution of the members of the Congress was set at 10 zlotys (foreign participants of foreign nationalities were exempt from it). Train discounts were applied for all participants of the Congress, and foreign guests were also provided with a refund of the costs of passport visas and given free accommodation in hotels.

Before the Congress, the Committee prepared and published a printed Programme of the 1st Congress of Polish Mathematics with a detailed schedule of lectures by section, with a layout of rooms and hours. Throughout the Congress, a permanent duty officer assigned quarters, distributed congress badges, membership cards and forms.

The interest from abroad is evidenced by the list of foreign mathematicians who either announced their arrival or sent congratulations: P Aleksandrov, A F Andersen, N Bari, A Bilimović, O Blumenthal, L E J Brouwer, G Bouligand, A Denjoy, A Errera, A Fraenkel, M Fréchet, W Gontcharo, V Hlavaty, J Kampé de Fériet, R G Lubben, M Lavrentev, N Luzin, R Mehmke, D Menszow, G Mittag-Leffler, L Neder, J v Neumann, P Sergescu, A Tikhonov, F Vasilesco, H Villat and W A ​​Wilson.

On 7 September 1927, at 11 a.m., the ceremonial opening of the Congress took place in the hall of Jan Kazimierz University in the presence of representatives of the authorities and scientific societies.

The Congress was opened by the chairman of the Organising Committee, Professor Maksymiljan Huber, who delivered the following speech:

Most esteemed Meeting!

Welcoming the honourable guests and participants of the 1st Polish Mathematical Congress on behalf of the Organising Committee, I would like to express my warmest thanks to the distinguished representatives of the authorities, scientific and social institutions, associations and the press, as well as to all the guests who honoured today's opening of the Congress with their presence. I owe special thanks to Their Magnificences, the Rectors of the University and the Polytechnic for their gracious support of the Congress by providing the buildings of both universities for our purposes, namely the University hall for the opening, and the lecture halls and the Polytechnic hall for the discussions and closing of the Congress. Gratitude should also be expressed to the Ministry of the Republic of Poland and the District School Boards for their help and for granting vacations to the participants of the Congress who are secondary school teachers. With thanks and gratitude, I would like to acknowledge the support of the Ministry of Communication by providing train discounts for participants who do not benefit from other discounts. Enjoying the fact that among the members of the Congress, the Deputy Prime Minister of our Government, Professor Kazimierz Bartel, a member of the Honorary Committee of the Congress, I am pleased to say that Mr Deputy Prime Minister did not stop at paying (one of the first) an ordinary membership fee, but provided considerable material support from the disposable fund for the costs of the Congress, which will be considerable in view of the intention to publish the Congress Proceedings with all the papers. Expressing my warm thanks to him in this place, I turn my thoughts to the Highest Dignitary of our State, Mr President Ignacy Mościcki, not only as the ruler of the Republic, but also as a man of science in a field very close to mathematical sciences. I therefore consider it the first duty of the Congress to send a telegram expressing homage to Mr President.

Finally, I would like to thank all the esteemed participants who came to Lwów from different parts of the country and abroad, sparing no effort or expense for the noble goals of scientific cooperation in the field of pure and applied mathematics. I am especially pleased to welcome foreign scientists of other nationalities who came from far away to respond to our invitation to celebrate with us the celebration of our mathematical sciences initiated by the Polish Mathematical Society.

The Honourable Assembly will allow that I will repeat these words of welcome in French, a language better understood by our dear guests:

It is a particular pleasure for me to welcome the scholars who came from abroad, who from distant countries were rushing to arrive at our invitation, to celebrate with us the festival of mathematical sciences, initiated by the Polish Mathematical Society."

Highly Esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen! The mathematical sciences constitute an extremely extensive branch of human knowledge, distinguished on the one hand by abstraction from the quality of all things that are generally the subject of science, and on the other hand by the property of penetrating every other branch of knowledge, which to their great advantage adopt mathematical methods of investigation. The modest number of basic concepts of mathematics is strangely associated with the enormous amount of means that it provides to other exact sciences, as well as to those that strive for accuracy precisely through the increasingly extensive use of mathematical methods. Is it necessary to remind this close group of people of the opinion of the great philosopher of Königsberg on the lofty role of mathematics in various branches of knowledge?

Looking at the enormous edifice of mathematical sciences, occupying so many minds in some respects related, and yet often strongly differing, we see, as it were, the never-ending construction of a towering Gothic mass with extremely numerous turrets and chapels. Some mathematicians work persistently and enthusiastically on the foundations of this edifice and, closely observing every slightest error in the assumption, they constantly supplement and modify the original plan of the building. These are representatives of pure mathematics. Others sometimes finish the details of these turrets and chapels with equal effort, creating their subtle sculpture. These are workers in applied mathematics. Finally, the third group is engaged in the preparation of clear simplified plans of each part of this edifice, which make it easier for visitors to get to know it. I mean here the didactic work of mathematicians and teachers.

They are all united by a common idea, they all look with admiration and delight at the peaks of the towers growing ever higher towards the sky - a never-ending, yet always magnificent and harmonious structure.

I will allow myself to raise here another feature of mathematics. It is the most international of all sciences, thanks to the common language of symbols it uses throughout the world. But this internationality by no means spoils the creative and noble nationalism that unites people of a common native language; therefore, it does not prevent, for example, Polish mathematicians from joining in common work by publishing Polish mathematical journals and associating in the Polish Mathematical Society. This national connection also requires Congresses of Polish mathematicians, at which a joint review of the work done by our forces on the aforementioned allegorical temple will take place.

After the speech of Professor Huber, His Magnificence Rector Gerstman welcomed the Congress in the name of the University, Professor W Sierpiński in the name of the Academy, Rector Łopuszański in the name of the Lwów Polytechnic, Professor Twardowski in the name of the Lwów scientific institutions, and Professor Loria in the name of the Physical Society and as Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the Lwów University. From among the foreign mathematicians, Mr Hlavaty and Mr Sergescu spoke. Finally, letters and telegrams of congratulations from a number of scientific institutions and individuals were read.

After the constitution of the Congress presidium and the election of the Congress authorities, it was resolved to send a telegram expressing homage to the President of the Republic. It was also resolved to send the following telegram to Professor Zaremba, who was absent due to illness:

Esteemed Professor!

On behalf of the 1st Polish Mathematical Congress, I have the honour to send you, Esteemed Professor, my sincere regret that he was unable to participate in our deliberations, and my best wishes for a speedy recovery.

The Congress was attended by about 200 mathematicians from all over Poland and abroad, as well as 7 mathematicians of foreign nationalities, namely: A F Andersen from Copenhagen, Nina Bari from Moscow, V Hlavaty from Prague, N Luzin from Moscow, D Menshov from Moscow, J von Neumann from Budapest and P Sergescu from Cluj in Romania.

The sessions in the sections were held daily from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the halls of the Lwów Polytechnic. About 100 papers were presented in the sections, two of which were presented in the General Section, namely: Prof Lichtenstein's On Newton's Law and Prof Sierpiński's Functions and Sets.

During the deliberations, many more general resolutions emerged, which were agreed upon and finally edited by the Resolutions Committee and adopted at the final plenary session of the Congress. (We are including these resolutions separately).

The most important benefit of the Congress was the numerous discussions and lively exchange of ideas of the participants throughout the Congress. The cordial atmosphere during the social gatherings and the banquet in the halls of the Krakowski Hotel will remain in the memory of all the members of the Congress for a long time. The usefulness and need for further mathematical congresses as a general means of maintaining and reviving scientific creativity was documented by the resolution to convene the Congress of Mathematicians from Slavic countries in 1929 and the second Polish Mathematics Congress in 1931.

The Congress was closed on September 10 in the hall of the Lwów Polytechnic. Speeches were given by: His Magnificence the Rector of the Lwów Polytechnic, Prof J Tokarski, Prof Hlavaty on behalf of the Czech-Slovak Association of Mathematicians and Physicists, and Prof Andersen, Sergescu, and Dickstein. The Chairman of the Congress, Prof Sierpiński, closing the Congress, expressed his warm gratitude to the Organising Committee for such careful preparation of the Congress, to the Rectors of the University and the Polytechnic for providing accommodation, and to the foreign guests who honoured the Congress with their presence and contributed greatly to its success.

It is also worth mentioning the friendly attitude of the State Authorities, which the Congress experienced in particular from the then Deputy Prime Minister, Prof Kazimierz Bartel, a member of the Honorary Committee of the Congress. The Congress and the organisation of mathematics in Poland owe a lot to his support.

Resolutions of the Congress.

(1) The Congress resolves to convene the Congress of Mathematicians of Slavic Countries in Warsaw in 1929. The implementation of this resolution is entrusted to the Organising Committee (with the right of co-optation) with the following composition:

• Prof Bydzowski from Prague
• Prof Kryłow from Kiev
• Prof Kuratowski from Lwów
• Prof Luzin from Moscow
• Prof Mazurkiewicz from Warsaw
• Prof Petrovitch from Białogóra
• Prof Popoff from Sofia
• Prof Sierpiński from Warsaw.

(2) The First Polish Mathematics Congress resolves to convene the Second Polish Mathematical Congress in 1931 at a place to be designated by the Polish Mathematical Society. The Polish Mathematical Society will be responsible for organising this Congress.

(3) The Congress declares itself in favour of the unconditional observance of the principle that only the National Committees of the appropriate Unions have the right to delegate Polish representatives to the Congresses of the International Mathematical and Natural Science Unions. Any deviations from this principle are inadmissible and highly detrimental to the authority of the State.

(4) The Congress considers it necessary to establish a Central Mathematical Library in Warsaw, as the library of the Polish National Committee of the International Mathematical Union, and to reach an agreement in this respect with the Warsaw Scientific Society, the Mathematical Seminary of the University of Warsaw, and to ask the Ministry of the Republic of Poland and the District Council for a permanent subsidy for this institution.

(5) The First Polish Mathematics Congress expresses its gratitude to the Ministry of the Republic of Poland and the District Council, and in particular to the Science Department of that Ministry for supporting Polish mathematics by subsidising mathematical publications. The First Polish Mathematics Congress considers, however, that it is necessary to permanently consolidate the existence of "Fundamenta Mathematicae" and "Prace matematyczno-fizyczne" by inserting for this purpose in the budget substantial and permanent items so that these publications can appear regularly. "Fundamenta Mathematicae" played an extremely important role in the development of Polish mathematics; it is to it that we owe the fact that the international significance of this branch of our science has grown remarkably in recent years. "Prace matematyczno-fizyczne" is the oldest mathematical journal in Poland, because it has been published since 1888 and has survived the worst times for Polish science. The very names of these journals indicate the difference in their scientific directions, therefore it is necessary to continue both, especially since even today both together cannot cope with publishing the original and valuable works sent to them, so that a significant number of the manuscripts is sent abroad, and another considerable number waits for several years for a place. If the development of Polish mathematics is not to be delayed and if it is to proceed harmoniously in all directions of mathematical thought, the question of the material existence of "Fundamenta Mathematicae" and "Prace matematyczno-fizyczne" must become the subject of special concern of the Ministry of the Republic of Poland and the District Council.

(6) Considering that Polish works on applied mathematics, mathematical statistics and probability theory are scattered across many different journals, which makes it impossible or very difficult to search for them, the First Polish Mathematics Congress recommends publishing these works in one journal, namely in "Wiadomości Matematyczne", hospitably opened for these works by the Editor Mr Dickstein.

(7) The First Polish Mathematics Congress resolves to demand from the Ministry of the Republic of Poland and the District Council the organisation and financing of training courses for secondary school teachers, namely:

1. courses organised in university cities during school holidays, in order to supplement mathematical knowledge;
   
   
2. regional conferences, convened for one or several curators during school education, in order to familiarise themselves with school methods, in connection with practical lessons during school education.

(8) Having noted the excessive exuberance of abstract tendencies in the current programmes, the overloading of the syllabus with extremely subtle and difficult issues and a number of other inappropriate aspects:

The First Polish Mathematics Congress demands a thorough revision and reform of the teaching programmes in terms of their objectives, scope and arrangement of the material, with the participation of the broadest possible circle of experts (both didactic and scientific) from the entire Republic of Poland.

(9) For the development of mathematical knowledge in Poland it is extremely important that young academics can remain in contact with university centres after completing their studies. The Ministry of Ministry of the Republic of Poland and the District Council should ensure that secondary school teachers who work scientifically have priority over other candidates when a teaching position at an academic school is vacant and issue a regulation ordering that scientific work proven by publications be considered as a decisive qualification when it comes to such a position.

(10) In order to focus the work of teachers on the semi-didactics of mathematics and to represent the opinion of teachers before the Authorities of the Republic of Poland in matters concerning the programs and methods of teaching mathematics, the participants of the First Polish Mathematics Congress in Lwów consider it necessary to establish the "Polish Society of Teachers of Mathematics".

Actual members of the Society may be teachers of mathematics and didactics in Polish schools of all types, i.e. in primary schools, secondary schools, general secondary schools, vocational schools, mathematics teacher training institutions and academic schools.

The statute will be based on the statute of the Association of Polish Teachers of Geography, adopted at the 2nd National Congress of Polish Teachers of Geography in Łódź.

The Congress instructs its Presidium to take care of establishing contact between the Polish Mathematical Society and the Polish Society of Teachers of Mathematics.

The Congress appoints the Organising Committee composed of: Messrs Rusiecki, Sierpiński, Straszewicz, Wojtowicz.

The Organising Committee will be tasked with legalising the statute, which it will adopt with the rights of the General Assembly, admitting members, publishing a journal devoted to elementary mathematics and mathematics didactics from membership fees, and, with the possible cooperation of members of the Polish Mathematical Society, making preparations for the Congress of members of the new Society.

Honorary Committee.

Banachiewicz, Tadeusz
Bartel, Kazimierz
Dickstein, Samuel
Huber, Maksymiljan
Krygowski, Zdzisław
Lichtenstein, Leon
Łukasiewicz, Jan
Natanson, Władysław
Sierpiński, Wacław
Staniewicz, Wiktor
Zaremba, Stanisław
Żórawski, Kazimierz

Executive Committee of the Congress.

President:- Wacław Sierpiński.
Vice-presidents:- Tadeusz Banachiewicz, Leon Lichtenstein, Stefan Mazurkiewicz.
Secretary:- Kazimierz Kuratowski.

Organising Committee.

President:- Maksymiljan Huber
Deputy President:- Hugo Steinhaus
Accommodation Officer:- Włodzimierz Stożek
Programme Officer:- Stefan Banach
Treasury Officer:- Antoni Łomnicki
Secretary:- Władysław Nikliborc.

Section Chairmen.

A. Section of mathematical logic and foundations of mathematics:- Chwistek, Łukasiewicz, Tarski.

B. Section of algebra and theory of numbers:- Biernacki, Staniewicz, Żylinski.

C. Section of the theory of sets and functions of a real variable:- Banach, Kuratowski, Ruziewicz, Saks.

D. Section of analysis:- Leja, Lichtenstein, Nikliborc.

E. Section of geometry:- Garlicki, Hoborski, Ślebodziński.

F. Section of applied mathematics:- Spława-Neyman, Steinhaus.

G. and H. Sections of mechanics, mathematical physics and astronomy:- Banachiewicz, Blumenfeld, Grabowski, Rosenblatt.

I. Section of didactics, history, philosophy of mathematics:- Dickstein, Łomnicki, Pająk.

Resolutions Committee.

Chairman:- W Sierpiński.
Members:- T Banachiewicz, M Huber, A Łomnicki, S Ruziewicz, H Steinhaus, W Stożek.

Editorial Committee of the Proceedings of the Congress.

Editors:- Stefan Banach and Kazimierz Kuratowski.
Secretary:- Stefan Kaczmarz.

List of Congress participants.

• Abramowicz, Kazimierz:- Ph.D., deputy professor, Poznań University.
• Abramowiczówna, Izabela:- professor, Poznań University.
• Andersen, Aksel Frederik:- Ph.D., associate professor, Copenhagen University.
• Aulich, Witold:- engineer, Ph.D., assistant, Lwów Polytechnic.
• Babski, Bohdan:- professor, Królewska Huta University.
• Bałtowski, Franciszek:- professor, Łańcut University.
• Banach, Stefan:- Ph.D., professor, Lwów University.
• Barchanowska, Helena:- professor, Gostynin University.
• Baran, Jan:- professor, Toruń University.
• Bari, Nina:- Ph.D., Moscow University.
• Biegański, Edward:- director, Łowicz University.
• Biernacki, Mieczysław:- Ph.D., University of Paris.
• Bilińska, Helena:- professor, Lwów University.
• Birgfellner, Jan:- director, Gniezno University.
• Birnbaum, Zygmunt:- master of law, professor Gymnasium Lwów.
• Blumenfeld, Izydor:- engineer, Ph.D. Lwów.
• Borkowska, Janina:- professor, Gymnasium, Warsaw.
• Böttcher, Łucjan:- Ph.D., docent, Lwów Polytechnic.
• Broniec, Karol:- professor, Gymnasium, Tarnowskie Góry.
• Burdecki, Karol:- Ph.D. professor Wągrowiec.
• Cielecki, Janusz:- Ph.D. professor Warsaw.
• Czajkowski, Leon:- Ph.D. professor Bielsko Podlaskie.
• Dickstein, Samuel:- Ph.D. professor Warsaw.
• Dziwiński, Placyd:- Ph.D. professor Lwów Polytechnic.
• Ernst, Marcin:- Ph.D. professor Lwów.
• Frycz, Kazimierz:- Ph.D. professor Lublin.
• Freilich, Arnold:- Ph.D. professor Lwów.
• Fuchs, Zygmunt:- Engineer Dr adjunct Lwów Polytechnic.
• Garlicki, Stanisław:- Engineer professor Warsaw Polytechnic.
• Glass, Stefan:- Ph.D. assistant University of Vilnius.
• Golczewski, Kajetan:- Professor Lwów.
• Greniewski, Henryk:- Ph.D. Warsaw.
• Grużewski, Aleksander:- Ph.D. assistant Warsaw Polytechnic.
• Grycz, Karol:- Professor Cieszyn.
• Halfter, Piotr:- Professor Grodno.
• Helman, Wiktor:- Professor Lubliu.
• Herstalówna, Wanda:- professor of gymnasium Kraków.
• Hlavatÿ, Wacław:- Dr docent of University and Polytechnic Prague.
• Hoborski, Antoni:- Dr professor of university and Academy of Góra Kraków.
• Homme, Marja:- professor of gymnasium Lwów.
• Huber, Maksymiljan:- engineer Dr professor of Lwów Polytechnic.
• Hurewicz, Witold:- Dr assistant of University of Amsterdam.
• Ignatowicz, Bolesław:- professor of gymnasium Warsaw.
• Iwanowski, Arkadjusz:- candidate of mathematical sciences Łomża.
• Izdebski, Stanisław:- director of gymnasium Otwock.
• Jacob, Moses:- Dr technician of insurance Vienna.
• Jamrógiewicz, Roman:- Ph.D. professor of Gymnasium Lwów.
• Jankowski, Ksawery:- candidate of mathematical sciences major W P Warsaw.
• Jaśkowski, Stanisław:- Warsaw.
• Kaczmarz, Stefan:- Ph.D. assistant Lwów Polytechnic.
• Kaczyński, Stanisław:- professor Gymnasium Płock.
• Kamionkówna, Marja:- professor Seminary Radom.
• Karczewski, Janusz:- professor Gymnasium Wejherowo.
• Kempisty, Stefan:- Ph.D. professor of Vilnius University.
• Kerner, Michał:- Warsaw.
• Knaster, Bronisław:- Ph.D. docent University of Warsaw.
• Kolanowski, Włodzimierz:- engineer assistant Warsaw Polytechnic.
• Kolczyński, Stefan:- professor Gymnasium Gniezno.
• Koim, Jan:- professor Gymnasium Lwów.
• Koperny, Józef:- professor Gymnasium Pleszew.
• Kosiński, Konstanty:- professor Gymnasium Białystok.
• Koźniewski, Andrzej:- Warsaw.
• Krassowski, Zenon:- professor Gymnasium Białystok.
• Krupicka, Anna:- professor Krakow.
• Kuczkowska, Stefanja:- professor Białystok.
• Kuczkowski, Jan:- professor Białystok.
• Kunicki, Władysław:- director of Lublin Gymnasium.
• Kuratowski, Kazimierz:- Dr professor, Lwów Polytechnic.
• Lantsch, Jan:- professor Tarnopol Gymnasium.
• Leja, Franciszek:- Dr professor, Warsaw Polytechnic.
• Leśniczukówna, Janina:- professor Seminary Zawiercie.
• Lewicki, Wincenty:- professor Seminary Lwów.
• Lichtenberg, Władysław, professor Seminary Lwów.
• Lichtenstein, Leon:- Dr professor Leipzig University.
• Lindenbaum, Adolf:- Warsaw.
• Loria, Stanisław:- Dr professor University of Lwów.
• Losterowna, Marja:- professor Gymnasium Ostrów Wkp.
• Łobacz, Józef:- ks. Dr theology Kraków.
• Łomnicki, Antoni:- Dr professor Lwów Polytechnic.
• Łomnicki, Zbigniew:- official Insurance Institute Lwów.
• Lukasiewicz, Jan:- Dr professor University of Warsaw.
• Łuzin, Mikołaj:- professor Moscow University.
• Madlerowa, Wanda:- director of Seminary Zamość.
• Majewski, Władysław:- major W P Toruń.
• Makarewicz, Józef:- candidate of mathematical sciences professor Gymnasium Lublin.
• Maksymowicz, Adam:- Dr docent Lwów Polytechnic and professor Gymnasium Lwów.
• Małuszkiewicz, Władysław:- professor Seminary Częstochowa.
• Matusewicz, Ludmiła:- director of Seminary Warsaw.
• Mazur, Stanisław:- Lwów.
• Mazurkiewicz, Józef:- director of gymnasium Bydgoszcz.
• Mickiewicz, Władysław:- professor of gymnasium Zamość.
• Mienszow, Dymitr:- professor of the Institute of Mathematics Moscow.
• Mihułowicz, Jerzy:- Dr professor of gymnasium Lwów.
• Milecka, Helena:- professor of gymnasium Warsaw.
• Myślicki, Wacław:- professor of gymnasium Grodno.
• Neumann, Jan von:- Dr docent of the University of Berlin.
• Neymann-Spława, Jerzy:- Dr Kraków.
• Niedojadło, Piotr:- professor of gymnasium Toruń.
• Niedźwiecki, Zenon:- professor of gymnasium Nisvizh.
• Nikliborc, Władysław:- Dr assistant Lwów Polytechnic.
• Nikodym, Otto:- Ph.D. professor Gymnasium Kraków.
• Nikodymowa, Stanislawa:- Ph.D. Kraków.
• Ohrenstein, Szymon:- professor Gymnasium Drohobycz.
• Orlicz, Wladyslaw:- assistant University of Lwów.
• Pajak, Stanislaw:- visitor Lwów.
• Pajakna, Jadwiga:- Kraków.
• Paradecki, Zygmunt:- professor Seminary Tomaszów Maz.
• Perzyna, Józef:- professor Seminary Chełm Lub.
• Piekarski, Bronislaw:- Warsaw.
• Piestrak, Feliks:- engineer director of mining schools Tarnowskie Góry.
• Pietkiewiezówna, Amelja:- professor Gymnasium Częstochowa.
• Piotrowski, Jan:- engineer professor Warsaw Polytechnic.
• Podjedówna, Agnieszka:- Ph.D. professor Gymnasium Warsaw.
• Popławska, Alodja:- professor Seminary Lublin.
• Pressburger, Moses:- Warsaw.
• Prokofl, Józef:- professor Gymnasium Warsaw.
• Rosenblatt, Alfred:- Ph.D. professor University of Kraków.
• Rosental, Stefan:- Kraków.
• Rudnicki, Juljusz:- Ph.D. professor Vilnius University.
• Rusiecki, Antoni:- Instructor Min. W R and O P Warsaw.
• Ruziewicz, Stanisław:- Ph.D. professor University of Lwów.
• Rybarczyk, Aleksander:- Professor Seminary Białystok.
• Rymaszewski, Eugeniusz:- Professor Gymnasium Lublin.
• Saks, Stanisław:- Ph.D. docent University of Warsaw.
• Schauder, Joachim:- Professor Gymnasium Łańcut.
• Schauder, Juljusz:- Ph.D. professor Gymnasium Lwów.
• Schweizerówna, Irena:- Ph.D. professor Gymnasium Warsaw.
• Seipeltówna, Lidja:- Ph.D., assistant, University of Poznań.
• Sergescu, Piotr:- Ph.D., professor, Cluj University.
• Sierpiński, Wacław:- Ph.D., professor, University of Warsaw.
• Skulicz, Marjan:- professor, Gymnasium Sambor.
• Ślebodziński, Władysław:- professor, School of Machine Design, Poznań.
• Sławicka, Stefanja:- professor, Gymnasium Rybnik.
• Sokołowski, Lech:- Warsaw.
• Sosnowski, Witold:- Warsaw.
• Staniewicz, Wiktor:- Ph.D., professor, University of Vilnius.
• Stasiuk, Bazyli:- Ph.D., professor, Gymnasium Łańcut.
• Steckel, Samuel:- Ph.D., professor, Gymnasium Kielce.
• Steinhaus, Hugo:- Ph.D., professor, University of Lwów.
• Stempurski, Karol:- professor, Seminary Ostrowiec Kielecki.
• Sternbach, Ludwik:- Lwów.
• Stożek, Włodzimierz:- Ph.D., professor Lwów Polytechnic.
• Straszewicz, Stefan:- Ph.D., professor Warsaw Polytechnic.
• Straszewski, Feliks:- professor of Gymnasium Warsaw.
• Supronowicz, Edward:- visitor Lublin.
• Świderski, Stefan:- head of the Curatorship Toruń.
• Sznejberżanka, Anna:- Warsaw.
• Sznejberżanka, Irena:- Warsaw.
• Szymkiewicz, Dezydery:- Dr professor Lwów Polytechnic.
• Szynkiewicz, Jan:- professor Seminary Tuchola.
• Tarski, Alfred:- Dr docent University of Warsaw.
• Turkowska, Jadwiga:- professor Gymnasium Vilnius.
• Twardowski, Kazimierz:- Dr professor University of Lwów.
• Warchałowski, Edward:- Engineering professor Warsaw Polytechnic.
• Warhaman, Stanisław:- Warsaw.
• Ważewski, Tadeusz:- Ph.D. assistant at the Mining Academy Krakow.
• Weigel, Kasper:- Eng. Ph.D. professor Lwów Polytechnic.
• Weinlösówna, Sala:- Lwów.
• Weyssenhof, Jan:- Ph.D. professor University of Vilnius.
• Wierzbicki, Witold:- Eng. Ph.D. docent Warsaw Polytechnic.
• Witkowski, Władysław:- Engineer Warsaw.
• Wójcik, Stanisław:- Fr. director of the gymnasium Oświęcim.
• Wolfke, Ludomir:- Ph.D. Warsaw.
• Wróblewski, Józef:- Professor gymnasium Lwów.
• Zaleski, Witold:- Professor gymnasium Lublin.
• Zarankiewicz, Kazimierz:- Ph.D. assistant Warsaw Polytechnic.
• Zaremba, Stanisław:- Krystyn Krakow.
• Zaremba, Zdzisław:- Professor Gymnasium Krzemieniec.
• Zarycki, Miron:- Professor gymnasium Lwów.
• Zawirski, Zygmunt:- Ph.D. docent Lwów Polytechnic.
• Zgórski, Wacław:- professor gymnasium Sarny.
• Zygmund, Antoni:- Dr docent University of Warsaw.
• Zygmundowa, Irena:- professor gymnasium Warsaw.
• Żyliński, Eustachy:- professor University of Lwów.

Second Polish Mathematics Congress

The Second Polish Mathematics Congress was held in Vilnius 23-26 September 1931.

The Second Congress of Polish Mathematicians, in accordance with the resolution of the First Congress, took place on 23-26 September 1931 in Vilnius, with Wiktor Staniewicz as chairman. Although the general economic crisis also affected scientists and mathematicians, the Congress was attended by over 160 mathematicians, including guests from Austria (Moses Jacob from Vienna), France (Arnaud Denjoy from Paris with his wife Férèse, Joseph Kampé de Fériet from Lille), Yugoslavia (Antoine Bilimowicz from Belgrade with the wife Marie), Germany (Stefan Rozendal from Leipzig) and Romania (Petre Sergescu from Cluj with his wife Maria Kasterska-Sergescu from Poland).

The following people who registered earlier did not arrive: Godofredo García from Lima, Lucien Godeaux from Liège, Václav Hlavatý from Prague, Witold Hurewicz from Amsterdam, Leon Lichtenstein from Leipzig (the speech was read by Michał Kerner), Stefan Mazurkiewicz from Warsaw, Paul Montel from Paris (the speech was read by Petre Sergescu), Gerhard Rägo from Dorpat (Tartu) with his wife Natalie, Leonida Tonelli from Pisa (the speech was read by Michał Kerner), Giuseppe Vitali from Bologna and Stanisław Zaremba from Kraków. Telegrams with wishes of success were sent by: Otto Blumenthal (from Aachen), Abraham Fraenkel (from Cologne), Guido Fubini (from Turin), Felix Hausdorff (from Bonn), Maksymilian T Huber (from Lwów), Václav Hlavatý (from Prague), Leon Lichtenstein (from Leipzig), Stefan Mazurkiewicz (from Warsaw), Paul Montel (from Paris), Karel Petr (from Prague), Gerhard Rägo (from Tartu), Alfred Rosenblatt (from Cracow), Stanisław Ruziewicz (from Lwów), Nilos Sakellariou (from Athens), Leonida Tonelli (from Pisa), Giuseppe Vitali (from Bologna) and Ernst Zermelo (from Freiburg).

From the information published before the Congress in the article [4] we learn that the entry fee was 15 zlotys for the active national participant and 10 zlotys for the accompanying participant. In addition, national participants had a 50% rail discount on the way back based on the participation card.

The Congress was held in the main building of Stefan Batory University, and the opening took place on 23 September 1931 in the Pillared Assembly Hall with a large audience. Samuel Dickstein was appointed chairman of the Congress. After his introductory speech, Aleksander Januszkiewicz, the rector of Stefan Batory University, welcomed the participants. On behalf of the Warsaw Scientific Society, the Society of Secondary and Higher School Teachers and the editorial office of the journal Fundamenta Mathematicae, Wacław Sierpiński spoke and stated (see [2] (p. 136) ):-

The second congress of Polish mathematicians takes place in difficult, very difficult conditions for Polish science. The general economic crisis is reflected in the first place on science, and in particular on scientific publications. Subsidies and grants for these publications have been suspended or significantly reduced. The Warsaw Scientific Society was forced to close a number of their premises, in particular their mathematical office, and suspended their reports, which in mathematical terms began to present serious problems. Scientific workers, affected by a significant reduction in wages, are in extremely severe material conditions, so many of them could not come to our Congress. Despite all this, we are grateful to the organisers of the Congress that they have been successful, because it will undoubtedly rise the radius of light and hope in our hard atmosphere.

Further greetings were given by Hugo Steinhaus, Stefan Straszewicz, Kazimierz Kuratowski, Kazimierz Jantzen and Władysław Dziewulski. Among the guests giving foreign language speeches they were (in French): Arnaud Denjoy from Paris, Petre Sergescu from Cluj and Anton Bilimowicz from Yugoslavia. Sergescu repeated his speech in Polish, saying, among others (see [5], [6], [7]):-

To limit yourselves to mathematics, Polish scholars have created a school from which every country could be proud. Because of you publishing the journal "Fundamententa Mathematicae" - and the publishing the journal "Mathematica" which is younger than it - Poland is spoken of with admiration in all scientific centres in the world. Your congresses in Lwów and Warsaw have contributed to the progress of learning.

The scientific programme provided for seven lectures at general meetings (today we would say "plenary lectures"), which took place before noon, and in the afternoon there were scientific meetings and discussions with papers or reports in six sections. Plenary lectures delivered at the Second Congress were as follows:

1. S Banach, Topics on vector spaces,
   
   
2. A Denjoy, La distinction des propriétés descriptives et métriques dans la théorie des ensembles et des fonctions,
   
   
3. S Dickstein, Wroński, Bolzano, Comte, Philosophers of mathematicians of the 19th century,
   
   
4. K Kuratowski, Logical operations and efficiency problems,
   
   
5. S Mazurkiewicz, On the use of the concept of categories in analysis and topology (the speaker was not present and it is not known if anyone read his lecture),
   
   
6. W Sierpiński, Sets of rings and function rings,
   
   
7. S Zaremba, View of the modern state of potential theory (in his absence Juliusz Rudnicki read the lecture).

Forty-nine lectures were given in the sections, including five by foreign authors (Bilimowicz, Hlavatý, Jacob, Kampé de Fériet and Sergescu).

The division into six sections was as follows (the number of planned lectures in a given section according to the article [3] is given in brackets):

I. Logic, and foundations of mathematics (2),

II. Set theory, topology, theory of real functions (7),

III. Arithmetic, algebra, analysis (18),

IV. Geometry (6),

V. Mathematical physics, astronomy and applied mathematics (15),

VI. Didactics and history of mathematics (8).

In the evening of 25 September, the participants of the Congress gathered for a banquet at the George Hotel, during which a number of toasts were made. The next day the last plenary session was held and Wacław Sierpiński, as chairman of the 1st Polish Mathematical Congress in Lwów in 1927, reported on the implementation of the resolutions of the previous Congress. Then the 2nd Congress of Polish Mathematicians in Vilnius unanimously adopted six resolutions, here are three of them (see [3], [5], [6], [7] ).

1. Regarding the next Congress.

The 2nd Congress of Polish Mathematicians resolves to convene the 3rd Congress of Polish Mathematicians in 1935 at a place designated by the Polish Mathematical Society, which will be responsible for organising this congress.

2. Regarding publishing the results of scientific research.

The 2nd Congress of Polish Mathematicians believes that no economic considerations can justify reducing the funds for publishing the results of Polish scientific work. The costs of publishing the results of scientific research are so negligible in relation to the effort needed to obtain them and the enormous amount of work put in, and the harm resulting from the delay in publishing scientific results is so great and obvious that reducing the funds needed for this would be a great disservice to Polish culture.

4. Regarding the preparation of mathematics teachers in secondary schools.

The 2nd Congress of Polish Mathematicians believes it is desirable that the following subjects be included in the examination programme for candidates for secondary school teachers: elementary mathematics from a higher position and an outline of the history of mathematics.

After the adoption of the resolutions, Professors Denjoy, Sergescu and Dickstein spoke, after which the Congress was closed.

The Third Congress of Polish Mathematicians was held in Warsaw from 28 September to 3 October 1937, i.e. with a two-year delay caused by work on the reorganization of the Society and the development of a new statute.

It was attended by over one hundred and seventy people, including ten foreign guests: from Austria (Hermann Fried and Fritz Rothberger), France (Maurice Fréchet), the Soviet Union (Stefan Bergman), the Netherlands (Hans Freudenthal), Romania (Gheorghe Bratu and Petre Sergescu), Switzerland (Heinz Hopf), Hungary (Bela Kerékjártó) and Italy (Lamberto Cesari).

The aim of the Congress was to review the achievements of mathematics in Poland in the last five years and to establish closer personal contacts between mathematicians.

The opening ceremony of the Congress took place on 29 September in the Grand Auditorium of the Polytechnic School. The welcoming speech was given by the president Wacław Sierpiński, who said, among other things (see [24], (pp. 270-271); [25], (pp. 184-187); [26], (pp. 150-153) ):-

It may be different in other sciences, but the majority of mathematicians consider Mathematical Congresses not only useful, but even necessary, and the Organising Committee did not see any need to change the current method of holding Mathematical Congresses, where communications are allowed on any mathematical topic without a limit on their number.
...
As we begin the 3rd Polish Mathematical Congress, it is worth being aware of the more important events concerning Polish Mathematics that have occurred since our previous Congress. First of all, we can happily state the further successful development of Polish mathematics over the last six years. It is expressed in the considerable number of volumes of mathematical publications that have appeared in Poland during this time, such as: 12 further volumes of "Fundamenta Mathematicae", 7 volumes of "Monografij Matematyczne", 4 volumes of "Studia Mathematica", 7 volumes of "Prace Matematyczno-Fizyczne", 12 volumes of "Wiadomości Matematyczne", 5 volumes of "Rocznik Polskiego Towarzystwo Matematyczne", altogether in the course of 6 years about 50 volumes of special mathematical publications in Poland. Numerous works of our mathematicians have also appeared during this time in the "Bulletin of the Polish Academy of Arts", in the "Reports of the Warsaw Scientific Society" and in a number of foreign publications. These works of our authors contain many new scientific results from various branches of mathematics, often solutions of difficult problems, sometimes new research methods.
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It is also worth noting that many works by foreign mathematicians have been published in Polish publishing houses in the last six years, which proves our close cooperation with world science.
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The connection between Polish mathematics and world mathematics was also expressed in the numerous visits to Poland in recent years by foreign mathematicians, ... who came to us either invited to give lectures, or to establish contact with our mathematicians, or finally to study, as scholarship holders.

The Congress's proceedings were held in plenary sessions and in sections, of which there were five (section chairmen and the number of lectures in that section are given in brackets):

I. Foundations of Mathematics, Set Theory, Theory of Real Functions (H Steinhaus, 13),

II. Analysis, Higher Algebra, Number Theory (E Żyliński, 18),

III. Geometry with Topology (K Kuratowski, 15),

IV. Mechanics, Probability Theory, Applied Mathematics (M Huber, 14),

V. History and Didactics of Mathematics (S Straszewicz, 8).

A total of seventy-five papers were submitted, of which sixty-eight were submitted to section sessions, seven to plenary sessions (see [27], (p. 288) ).

However, eight lectures were delivered at plenary sessions, namely (see [25]):-

1. M Biernacki, On the areas created by points representing the values ​​of an analytic function,
   
   
2. M Huber, Problems of applied mathematics in technical sciences,
   
   
3. K Kuratowski, On monotone families of closed sets and their applications to the theory of connected spaces,
   
   
4. S Mazurkiewicz, On the foundations of probability theory,
   
   
5. W Sierpiński, On countable families of sets,
   
   
6. H Steinhaus, Theory and applications of independent functions in the stochastic sense,
   
   
7. T Ważewski, On basic issues related to the Cauchy problem for partial differential equations of order 1,
   
   
8. A Zygmund, Recent results in the theory of trigonometric series, orthogonal series and interpolation.

A detailed report of the Congress in French was published in [25], and the papers presented were intended for publication in scientific journals.

The Congress was combined with the jubilee of the sixty-fifth anniversary of Samuel Dickstein's scientific, pedagogical and social activity. The Academy's dedication to him took place on the last day of the Congress and was an expression of universal recognition for Dickstein - a mathematician, professor at the University of Warsaw, distinguished historian of mathematics, teacher, publisher, translator and founder of numerous social and cultural institutions. He founded and published the journals Wiadomości Matematyczne and Prace Matematyczno-Fizyczne.

A commemorative book of Dickstein's activity was also published [12], containing many interesting details of his activity, including biographical data and supplementary bibliography of his works since 1917. At that time, Dickstein's scientific achievements amounted to 263 publications.

Among the many speakers was also Stefan Kempisty, professor and dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Stefan Batory University in Vilnius, who stated (see [12], (p. 18) ):-

When we admire the wonderful development of Polish mathematics since regaining independence and look for the reasons for this phenomenon, we always remember that both in the sad times of captivity and in the dangerous moments of war, the cult and passion for mathematics was spread and maintained by today's Jubilarian, then the general mathematical editor, publisher, author, translator, reviewer, bibliographer and populariser in one person.

When we teach, we realise that, in addition to the mathematical names chosen by Jan Śniadecki and Hoene-Wroński, we use many terms created by Professor Dickstein during the process of assimilating foreign works into Polish mathematical literature.
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So today, when I have the honour of representing the Stefan Batory University and the Vilnius Society of Friends of Science, I extend my most sincere and best wishes to the Venerable Jubilarian and join in the universal homage of Polish scientific centres.

The Jubilarian himself was the last to speak, and in his introduction he noted that much of the recognition he received was due to his outstanding collaborators, many of whom are no longer alive. He then shared his memories from his school years, when he was a student of Żuliński, who was executed in 1864 after the fall of the uprising, and from the period when the Main School was established (see [11], (pp. 283–284) ). The ceremony ended with the reading of many dispatches and letters with wishes from Poland and abroad. In the evening, a banquet was held in the Bristol Hotel in honour of the Jubilarian.