Václav Hlavatý (1894—1969): how a mathematician made his country famous
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Presentation based on the research based on primary sources. Abstract: From the beginning of his scientific career, the mathematician Václav Hlavatý (1894-1969) was known for his sociable nature, sense of humour, and love of languages. His communicative nature helped him in his career in mathematics as well as in his other endeavours. Also, throughout his life, Hlavatý was a Czech as well as a member of the international community of mathematicians. He always loved his country, which became manifest in his emotional reactions to the Munich Treaty of 1938 and even more so after he had emigrated in 1948, when he was already in his fifties. Immediately upon his arrival to Indiana University, Bloomington in the fall of 1948, he contacted the exile community and was its active member ever since. Being a mathematician and being close to physics in his research proved to be an assett: in 1953, his name became famous through US national newspapers as the name of the man who solved Einstein’s equations. Although not quite happy with his sudden fame then, Hlavaty was later able to use his contacts among mathematicians and physicists to make his homeland famous: when he became president of SVU sixty years ago, he used his scientific travels as a means to promote the society. His contacts, naturally, did not turn up out of nowhere, but were a result of his correspondence with his colleagues not only in Europe and the USA, but also in Japan and India – virtually around the world. |
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