Person: Borsuk, Karol

Karol Borsuk was a Polish mathematician who made important contributions to topology.

When Borsuk entered the University of Warsaw to study mathematics it was an exciting centre for research in topology; Saks and Mazurkiewicz were both teaching at the University and making major advances in the topic.
Borsuk obtained his master's degree from the University of Warsaw in 1927 and then, from 1929, he taught at the University.
Borsuk visited there and during one such visit began a collaboration with Ulam.
It was a joint paper with Borsuk, published in the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society.
In Lwów Borsuk joined the mathematicians in the Scottish Café and contributed to the open problems which they wrote down in the famous book.
Borsuk's career was of course about to be interrupted by the start of World War II.
During the Nazi occupation Borsuk tried to keep the University of Warsaw functioning in the way that Kuratowski describes in the quote above.
Borsuk, however, escaped and was able to survive by remaining in hiding throughout the rest of the war.
Borsuk and Kuratowski both played important roles in this reconstruction.
Borsuk continued in his post in the University of Warsaw, a post he held throughout his career, being promoted to professor in 1946.
In Warsaw, Borsuk led a seminar in which he developed a unique atmosphere of successful international cooperation.
The notion had immediate impact on other topologists, and in particular on Borsuk's own students.
Many honours were given to Borsuk for his remarkable contributions.

Born 8 May 1905, Warsaw, Russian Empire (now Poland). Died 24 January 1982, Warsaw, Poland.

View full biography at MacTutor

Origin Poland, Topology

Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0!

O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive