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]