Page 137 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

publikacije, ki so jih na Akademiji izdajali, ver- When Vidav returned the following year from
jetno zaradi družinskega prijatelja, Primoža Ra- Rome, where Plemelj had sent him during the
movša, ki je takrat vodil knjižnico Slovenske occupation, Vidav confided to him that he had
akademije znanosti in umetnosti (SAZU). been bored because he had heard nothing there
Knjiga Željka Oseta Pisma Georga Fabra that he had not already learned from him in Lju-
Josipu Plemlju je plod temeljitega znanstvenega bljana. Oset explains in his book that one of the
dela profesionalnega zgodovinarja. Nastala je na main reasons for Vidav’s passive role in Rome
primerni časovni razdalji, ob 150-letnici rojstva was his lack of knowledge of Italian. Although
Josipa Plemlja, in temelji na preverljivih doku- he was born in Opčine, his entire family moved
mentih. Pri tem ima korespondenca med Fab- to Štajerska shortly after the loss of Primorska.
rom in Plemljem posebno vlogo. Ohranjenih je When I started competing in mathemat-
namreč 91 pisem in razglednic, ki jih je nemški ics in secondary school (1964-1967), my grand-
matematik Georg Faber (1877–1966) v letih 1901 father once gave me all three of Plemelj’s books, 137
do 1965 pisal Plemlju. Glede na to, da sta se v tem which SAZU published between 1953 and 1962.
razdobju odvijali dve svetovni vojni, je vpogled I was amazed, as I did not know that he also kept
v korespondenco med odličnima matematikoma mathematics books at home. I also knew that he
pomemben ne le za razumevanje Plemlja, ampak was not interested in mathematics. The explana-
tudi za razumevanje dogajanja v matematičnem tion was, of course, simple. For many years af-
svetu tistih razburljivih časov. ter he was dismissed due to political demands,
Seveda je nemogoče razumevanje te kore- SAZU continued to send him all the publica-
spondence, ne da bi poznali okoliščine, v kate- tions they issued at the Academy, probably be-
rih sta živela in delovala korespondenta. Avtor cause of a family friend, Primož Ramovš, who
knjige je izvrsten poznavalec dogajanja in prota- was then head of the SAZU library.
gonistov akademskega življenja v obdobju od za- The book Letters from Georg Faber to Josip
četkov Univerze v Ljubljani ter SAZU in o pos- Plemelj is the result of thorough scientific work
ledicah, ki sta jih na njih pustili prva in druga by a professional historian. It was written at an
svetovna vojna. O tem je napisal več monogra- appropriate time, 150 years after the birth of Jo-
fij. To poznavanje mu je seveda olajšalo delo pri sip Plemelj, and is based on verifiable documents. Pisma Georga Fabra Josipu Plemlju • Letters from Georg Faber to Josip Plemelj
iskanju in interpretaciji ustreznega arhivskega The correspondence between Faber and Plemelj
gradiva. plays a special role in this. There are 91 letters
Knjiga bralcu odkriva nove, doslej neznane and postcards preserved that the German math-
razsežnosti Plemlja. Seveda je njegova matema- ematician Georg Faber (1877–1966) wrote to
tična dimenzija najpomembnejša in sorazmerno Plemelj between 1901 and 1965. Given that two
dobro poznana. Posebna zanimivost je dejstvo, world wars took place during this period, insight
da gre pri Fabru in Plemlju za osebnosti, ki sta into the correspondence between these two out-
si v marsičem sorodni, vendar ju loči nacional- standing mathematicians is important not only
nost - germanska : slovanska. Spoznata se, ko for understanding Plemelj, but also for under-
skupaj preživita leto 1900/1901 v Göttingenu, te- standing events in the mathematical world dur-
danjem Olimpu matematičnega sveta. Tri in pol ing those turbulent times.
leta mlajši Faber je še doktorski študent, medtem Of course, it is impossible to understand
ko je Plemelj obiskal Göttingen dve oz. tri leta this correspondence without knowing the cir-
po doktoratu, potem ko je šolsko leto 1899/1900 cumstances in which the correspondents lived
preživel v Berlinu pri slovitih matematikih Fu- and worked. The author of the book is an ex-
chsu in Frobeniusu. Ne smemo pozabiti, da je pert on the events and protagonists of academic
prav leta 1900 David Hilbert zastavil svoje zna- life in the period from the founding of the Uni-
menite probleme na mednarodnem matema- versity of Ljubljana and the Slovenian Academy