Václav Hlavatý
Václav Hlavatý (27 January 1894 – 11 January 1969) was a noted Czech-American mathematician, who wrote on the theory of relativity and corresponded extensively with Albert Einstein on the subject.[1] In particular, Hlavatý solved some very difficult equations relating to Einstein's Unified field theory, which was featured in the news media as one of the great scientific achievements of 1953.[2] Einstein himself was reported to have said that if anyone could solve the equations it would be Professor Hlavatý, which proved to be the case.[3]
He was born in Louny, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic) and died in Bloomington, Indiana. He obtained his PhD in 1921 at the Charles University in Prague[4][5] and during World War II participated in the Prague uprising,[3] but his academic career was mainly at Indiana University, which he joined in 1948, and where he became Professor, later Emeritus, of Mathematics. A special book of mathematical essays was published in his honour.[6]
In 1931 he married Olga Neumannova, and they had a daughter, Olga.[4]
[edit] Some publications
- "The Elementary Basic Principles of the Unified Theory of Relativity," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) 38.3 (1952): 243-247.
- "The Einstein Connection of the Unified Theory of Relativity," PNAS 38.5 (1952): 415-419.
- "The Schrödinger Final Affine Field Laws," PNAS 38.12 (1952): 1052-1058.
- "The Spinor Connection in the Unified Einstein Theory of Relativity," PNAS 39.6 (1953): 501-506. full text (pdf)
- "Connections Between Einstein's Two Unified Theories of Relativity," PNAS 39.6 (1953): 507-510. full text (pdf)
- Geometry of Einstein’s Unified Field Theory, Groningen: Noordhoff, 1957.
[edit] References
- ^ Indiana University fast facts
- ^ Johns Hopkins Television Programs 1948-1960: Highlights of science for 1953
- ^ a b Václav Hlavatý Czech biography, citing the New York Herald Tribune
- ^ a b www.mff.cuni.cz Prof. Václav Hlavatý
- ^ V. Hlavatý (1928) Mathematische Zeitschrift, Vol 28, No 1, Bemerkung zur Arbeit von Herrn T. Y. Thomas
- ^ B. Hoffman (ed.), Perspectives in Geometry and Relativity: Essays in Honor of Václav Hlavatý, Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1966.
[edit] External links
- Václav Hlavatý at the Mathematics Genealogy Project.
- Václav Hlavatý biography (in Czech)
- Václav Hlavatý biography (in Czech) includes photograph
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