Person: Wolf (2), František
František Wolf was a Czech mathematician known for his contributions to trigonometry and mathematical analysis.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- At this time František was fourteen years old and he had already become fascinated by science and mathematics.
- At the Charles University, Wolf excelled in his studies and he was awarded a gold medal and watch by Tomas Masaryk, the President of the new republic of Czechoslovakia.
- Tomas Masaryk's son, Jan Masaryk, was a personal friend of Wolf who was a strong supporter of the idea behind the new country.
- After obtaining his first degree in physics Wolf went to Masaryk University, Brno, to undertake research in mathematics.
- Wolf then became a secondary school teacher and taught mathematics in schools until 1937 when he was appointed as a Privatdozent at the Charles University in Prague.
- Shortly after his appointment, Wolf travelled to England to study at Cambridge University with Hardy and Littlewood.
- As a result Wolf published two papers in 1939, one in the Journal of the London Mathematical Society and the other in the Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society.
- After this visit to England Wolf returned to Prague in March 1938 as Germany was annexing Austria.
- Wolf's views made it impossible for him to remain under German occupation and he was fortunate to have an invitation from the Mittag-Leffler Institute in Stockholm.
- In 1941 Wolf received an invitation to lecture at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in the United States.
- Evans offered Wolf a position at Berkeley, but he felt he had to honour his commitment to Macalester College and duly went there for the one year post before returning to Berkeley as an Instructor in Mathematics in 1942.
- Wolf's paper The Poisson integral.
- In 1951 Wolf and Beckenbach founded the Pacific Journal of Mathematics, a major international mathematical research journal sponsored by a dozen or more West Coast universities.
- Wolf retired in 1972, and following that he went to the University of Valle in Guatemala where he helped set up a graduate programme.
Born 30 November 1904, Prostejov, Moravia, Austro-Hungary (now Czech Republic). Died 12 August 1989, Berkeley, California, USA.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin Czech Republic
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
- Github:
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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
