Władysław Ślebodziński (Polish pronunciation: [vwaˈdɨswaf ɕlɛbɔˈdʑiɲskʲi]) (b. February 6, 1884 in Pysznica – January 3, 1972 in Wrocław, Poland) was a Polish mathematician.
Władysław was educated at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (1903-1907). He was the teacher until end of WW I and after lectured at the The State High School of Mechanical Engineering, Poznań University and Warsaw University. During the Second World War he lectured at the underground universities for which he was imprisoned, surviving three German concentration camps: Auschwitz (1942 - 1945) prisoner no. 79053, Gross-Rosen and Nordhausen.
In 1945 he became professor at the coupled Wrocław University and Wrocław University of Technology, and from 1951 he was professor at the Wrocław University of Technology. With Bronisław Knaster, Edward Marczewski and Hugo Steinhaus he was a co-founder of the mathematical journal Colloquium Mathematicum.
From 1949 until 1960 he was a Profesor of the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Interest: Differential geometry. In 1931 [1], he introduced a definition of the Lie derivative although the name Lie derivative occurred first in a (two parts) paper by van Dantzig [2], as asserted by J.A. Schouten in his introduction to tensor analysis and its geometrical applications[3].
Doctor honoris causa of the Poznań University of Technology, Wrocław University of Technology and of the Wrocław University. Prof. Ślebodziński was member, President (1961-1963) and honorary member of the Polish Mathematical Society.