Stefan Banach

30 March 1892 – 31 August 1945

Stefan Banach was a Polish mathematician who is regarded as one of the founders of modern functional analysis. A leading figure of the Lwów School of Mathematics, he introduced the concept of complete normed vector spaces, now called Banach spaces, and proved fundamental theorems such as the Banach fixed-point theorem and the Hahn–Banach theorem.

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Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Stefan Banach.

Life events

Born in Kraków, then part of Austria-Hungary
30 March 1892

Stefan Banach was born in Kraków and was raised largely by a foster family after his mother gave him up.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Studied engineering at Lviv Polytechnic
1910 – 1914

Banach studied at the Lviv Polytechnic, passing his half-diploma examinations in 1914 before the outbreak of World War I interrupted his studies.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Discovered by Hugo Steinhaus in Kraków
1916

Hugo Steinhaus overheard Banach discussing mathematics in a Kraków park, a chance encounter that launched Banach's mathematical career and a lifelong collaboration.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Married Łucja Braus
1920

Banach married Łucja Braus, whom he had met through Steinhaus.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Received doctorate from Lviv University with a thesis founding functional analysis
1920

Banach's doctoral dissertation on operations on abstract sets introduced the axioms of what became known as Banach spaces.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Appointed professor at Lviv University
1922

Banach became a professor at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów, where he led the Lwów School of Mathematics.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Co-founded the journal Studia Mathematica
1929

Banach and Hugo Steinhaus founded Studia Mathematica, a journal focused on functional analysis and related fields.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Published Théorie des opérations linéaires, the first monograph on functional analysis
1932

Banach's treatise on the theory of linear operations systematized functional analysis and became the field's foundational text.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Survived the German occupation of Lwów by working as a lice feeder
1941 – 1944

During the Nazi occupation, Banach earned his living feeding lice at Rudolf Weigl's typhus research institute, which protected him from persecution.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died of lung cancer in Lviv
31 August 1945

Banach died of lung cancer in Lviv shortly after the end of World War II, before he could take up a planned chair in Kraków.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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