Page 138 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

tičnem kongresu v Parizu. Po Göttingenu, kjer of Sciences and Arts, as well as on the conse-
sta spoznala skoraj ves tedanji matematični svet, quences that the First and Second World Wars
predvsem Hilberta in Kleina, imata popolnoma had on them. He has written several mono-
različni usodi. graphs on this subject. This knowledge natural-
Ves čas dopisovanja sta se Faber in Plemelj ly facilitated his work in searching for and inter-
zelo spoštovala. Kljub majhni razliki v letih je preting the relevant archival material.
imel drugi v primerjavi s prvim na začetku bli- The book reveals new, previously unknown
skovito kariero. Leta 1902, ko je Faber doktoriral dimensions of Plemel to the reader. Of course,
na Tehniški univerzi v Münchnu in dobil službo his mathematical dimension is the most impor-
kot gimnazijski profesor, je Plemelj že postal za- tant and relatively well-known. A particular-
sebni docent na dunajski univerzi. Takrat Faber ly interesting fact is that Faber and Plemelj were
v slednjem uvidi svojega vzornika. Plemelj je pos- personalities who shared many similarities but
138 tal redni profesor na Univerzi v Černovicah leta were distinguished by their nationalities: Ger-
1908, Faber pa je naslov rednega profesorja dose- manic and Slavic, respectively. They met when
gel leto kasneje. they spent the year 1900/1901 together in Göt-
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 13 (2025), številka 1 / volume 13 (2025), number 1
Že takrat se je pokazalo, kako lahko oko- tingen, then the Olympus of the mathemati-
lje vpliva na delo matematika. Samozavestni Ple- cal world. Faber, three and a half years younger,
melj, tako rekoč čudežni deček, ki je v Göttin- was still a doctoral student when Plemelj visited
genu blestel, je naslednja leta v miru izkoristil za Göttingen two or three years after completing
objavo svojih najboljših del. V Černovicah pa se his doctorate, having spent the 1899/1900 aca-
je že začelo poznati, da počasi izgublja tesen stik demic year in Berlin with the famous mathema-
z vodilnimi matematiki. Avstrija ni bila središče ticians Fuchs and Frobenius. We must not forget
matematičnega sveta, kot je bila Nemčija. Čer- that it was in 1900 that David Hilbert posed his
novice pa niso bile ravno središče Avstrije. Na- famous problems at the International Congress
sprotno pa je manj nadarjeni Faber, ki se je sprva of Mathematicians in Paris. After Göttingen,
selil po Nemčiji, ves čas ostajal v stiku z matema- where they met almost the entire mathematical
tičnim svetom. V Münchnu se je ustalil šele med world of the time, especially Hilbert and Klein,
prvo svetovno vojno, leta 1916. Po nekaj letih je their fates diverged completely.
bil on tisti, ki je Plemlja seznanjal z dogajanjem v Throughout their correspondence, Faber
matematičnem svetu. and Plemelj had great respect for each other. De-
Plemelj je bil nedvomno matematični ge- spite the slight age difference, Plemelj had a me-
nij in v veliki meri samouk. Reševal je težke pro- teoric career compared to Faber. In 1902, when
bleme, ampak take, ki so jih zastavljali drugi. Faber received his doctorate from the Technical
Ni bil človek, ki bi odpiral nova področja, pravo University of Munich and got a job as a second-
nasprotje od njegovega sodobnika Hansa Hah- ary school teacher, Plemelj had already become a
na, ki je deloval na več različnih novih vejah ma- private lecturer at the University of Vienna. At
tematike. Med njima je sicer veliko vzporednic. that time, Faber saw Plemelj as his role model.
Oba sta doktorirala na Dunaju, pri Gustavu von Plemelj became a full professor at the University
Escherichu, bila sta kolega v Černovicah. Hahn of Chernivtsi in 1908, while Faber achieved the
je bil med prvo svetovno vojno težko ranjen, pa title of full professor a year later.
ga to ni odvrnilo od matematičnih raziskav. Ple- Even then, it was clear how much the en-
melj fronte ni videl; je pa omenjal prvo svetovno vironment could influence the work of a math-
vojno kot glavnega krivca, ki ga je iz raziskoval- ematician. The self-confident Plemelj, a child
ca spremenila v učitelja, češ da je bila vojna ve- prodigy who had excelled in Göttingen, spent
liko večja od matematike. Izgovarjal se je, da je the following years quietly publishing his best
vpoklic močno vplival na njegovo matematično works. In Chernivtsi, however, it was already