The Polish School of Mathematics subsumed: • the
Lwów School of Mathematics - mostly focused on
functional analysis; • the
Warsaw School of Mathematics - mostly focused on
set theory,
mathematical logic and
topology; and • the
Kraków School of Mathematics - mostly focused on
differential equations,
analytic functions,
differential geometry.
Nomenclature Poland's mathematicians provided a name to
Polish notation and
Polish space.
Background It has been debated what stimulated the exceptional efflorescence of mathematics in Poland after
World War I. Important preparatory work had been done by the
Polish "Positivists" following the disastrous
January 1863 Uprising. The Positivists extolled
science and
technology, and popularized slogans of "organic work" and "building from the foundations." In the 20th century, mathematics was a field of endeavor that could be successfully pursued even with the limited resources that Poland commanded in the
interbellum period.
Historical Influences Over the centuries, Polish mathematicians have influenced the course of history.
Copernicus used mathematics to buttress his revolutionary
heliocentric theory. Four hundred years later,
Marian Rejewski — subsequently assisted by fellow
mathematician-
cryptologists
Jerzy Różycki and
Henryk Zygalski — in December 1932 first broke the German
Enigma machine cipher, thus laying the foundations for
British World War II reading of Enigma ciphers ("
Ultra"). After the war,
Stanisław Ulam showed
Edward Teller how to construct a practicable
hydrogen bomb. ==See also==