Simion Stoilow

Simion Stoilow
Born 14 September 1873
Bucharest, Romania
Died 4 April 1961 (aged 87)
Bucharest, Romania
Nationality Romanian
Fields Mathematics
Institutions University of Bucharest
Alma mater University of Paris
Doctoral advisor Émile Picard
Doctoral students Ionel Bucur
Romulus Cristescu
Martin Jurchescu
Known for Complex analysis
Notable awards Kerékjártó-Stoilow compactification
Iversen-Stoilow surface

Simion Stoilow or Stoilov (14 September [O.S. 2 September] 1873 – 4 April 1961) was a Romanian mathematician, creator of the Romanian school of complex analysis, and author of over 100 publications.

Biography

He was born in Bucharest, and grew up in Craiova. His father, Colonel Simion Stoilow, fought at Smârdan in the Romanian War of Independence. After studying at the Obedeanu elementary school and the Carol I High School, Stoilow went in 1907 to the University of Paris, where he earned a B.S. degree in 1910 and a Ph.D. in Mathematics in 1916. His doctoral dissertation was written under the direction of Émile Picard.

He returned to Romania in 1916 to fight in World War I's Romanian Campaign, first in Dobrudja, then in Moldavia. After the war, he became professor of mathematics at the University of Iaşi (1919-1921) and the University of Cernăuţi (1921-1939). In 1939 he moved to Bucharest, first at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, and from 1941 at the University of Bucharest, serving as rector from 1944 to 1946 and as dean of the Faculties of Mathematics and Physics from 1948 to 1951.

From 1946 to 1948, he served as Romanian ambassador to France. In 1946 he was a member of the Romanian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference, headed by Gheorghe Tătărescu. In July 1947 he organized at Club de Chaillot the exhibit "L'art français au secours des enfants roumains"; Constantin Brâncuși participated, Tristan Tzara and Jean Cassou wrote the preface to the catalogue.

Stoilow was elected corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 1936, and full member in 1945. In 1949 he was the founding director of the Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy, serving in that capacity until he died. Among his students at the Institute were Martin Jurchescu, Cabiria Andreian Cazacu, Corneliu Constantinescu, Nicolae Boboc, and Aurel Cornea.

Stoilow died in Bucharest in 1961 of a brain stroke. He was cremated at the Cenuşa crematorium. Prior to the Romanian Revolution of 1989, his funeral urn was maintained in a crypt at the Carol Park Mausoleum.

Legacy

The Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy (closed in 1975 by a decree of Nicolae Ceauşescu, reopened in the immediate aftermath of the Romanian Revolution of 1989), is now named after him. The Simion Stoilow Prize is awarded every year by the Romanian Academy.

Work

References

  1. ↑ Whitney, Hassler (1938). "Review: "Leçons sur les principes topologiques de la théorie des fonctions analytiques", by S. Stoïlow". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 44 (11): 758–759. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1938-06867-X.

External links