Person: Vályi, Gyula
Gyula Vályi was a Hungarian mathematician and theoretical physicist known for his work on mathematical analysis, geometry and number theory.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Vályi was born in Marosvásárhely, which was a famous town for any Hungarian mathematician to be born in given the connection with Farkas Bolyai and János Bolyai.
- The University of Kolozsvár was a newly established university when Vályi entered it, being founded in 1872.
- After qualifying as a teacher of mathematics and physics from the University of Kolozsvár, Vályi was awarded a scholarship to allow him to undertake further study abroad.
- Vályi was appointed professor of theoretical physics at Kolozsvár in 1884, and in the following year he also became professor of mathematics lecturing on analysis, geometry and number theory.
- Vályi asked which triangles are similar to their nnnth pedal triangle (that is, they have the same angles).
- Vályi also made extensive studies of projective geometry, in particular studying polar reciprocity, and used elliptic functions to study third order curves.
- Vályi showed that there are precisely five triangles with this property.
- Vályi's eyesight deteriorated rapidly and he had to lecture without notes for he could not read them.
- Vályi's lectures did not always follow the same pattern.
- There were two courses of Vályi which hardly changed over time.
- One of them presented the basic theory of functions; in it Vályi followed his old master Weierstrass and included the theory of elliptic functions.
- The other concerned with János Bolyai's "Appendix"; in that course Vályi, especially in the first years stuck to the order and contents of the sections of Bolyai's masterpiece.
- Vályi remained in Kolozsvár all his life despite being offered a professorship in Budapest.
- Vályi's accomplishment, however, is outstanding and lasting ...
Born 25 January 1855, Marosvásárhely, Transylvania, Hungary (now Târgu-Mureș, Romania). Died 13 October 1913, Kolozsvár, Hungary (now Cluj, Romania).
View full biography at MacTutor
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Origin Romania
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
