Page 143 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

Plemelj je raziskovalno vedno bolj sameval, even though he had virtually no competition as
čeprav je še dolgo živel na starih lovorikah, ne le a mentor.
doma, ampak tudi v svetu. Ko je imel leta 1928 He was convinced that only first-class scien-
možnost, da bi presedlal na Univerzo v Grad- tists could establish a new university.
cu, ponudbe ni sprejel. Mnenje, da je to naredil Fortunately, he was not entirely alone in
iz žrtvovanja za Slovence, je po mojem zmotno. mathematics. He was assisted by Rihard Zu-
Takrat je bil že nekaj let »matematično mrtev«. pančič, a Ljubljana native with organisation-
Menim, da ga je bilo pri 55 letih preprosto strah, al skills, the second rector of the University of
da bi se osramotil. Med matematiki je krožila Ljubljana, who was unfortunately of German
anekdota o naivnem mladem Francetu Križani- descent and once preferred to lecture in French
ču, ki je nekoč prišel k Plemlju in ga prosil, da rather than in his poor Slovenian.
naj mu da kakšen zanimiv problem. Plemelj pa Plemelj became increasingly isolated in his
naj bi mu pokazal knjige v knjižnici in mu de- research, although he continued to live on his old 143
jal, da naj si ga kar sam izbere. Takrat ostareli laurels for a long time, not only at home but also
Plemelj že nekaj desetletij ni več spremljal novo- abroad. When he had the opportunity to trans-
sti v matematiki in mu problema ni mogel dati. fer to the University of Graz in 1928, he declined
Po pripovedovanju prof. Suhadolca je Križanič the offer. The opinion that he did so out of sac-
še enkrat poskusil, da bi dobil temo za doktorat. rifice for the Slovenian people is, in my opin-
Plemelj pa mu je predlagal, naj obdela življenje- ion, mistaken. At that time, he had already been
pise Vege, Močnika, Hočevarja ... Križanič je bil ‘mathematically dead’ for several years. I believe
prepričan, da ga Plemelj kot matematika daje v that at the age of fifty-five, he was simply afraid
nič, saj je bila to tema iz zgodovine in ne iz mate- of embarrassing himself. There was an anecdote
matike. Pa ni bilo tako. Plemelj mu takrat ni mo- circulating among mathematicians about the na-
gel nič več dati. ive young France Križanič, who once came to
Po prvi svetovni vojni je Plemelj v kraljevini Plemelj and asked him to give him an interesting
Jugoslaviji, Faber pa v vse bolj nacistični Nemči- problem. Plemelj showed him the books in the
ji. Med drugo svetovno vojno (1941–1945) sta ne- library and told him to choose one himself. By
kaj časa spet v isti državi, če štejemo, da je imel then, the ageing Plemelj had not been following Pisma Georga Fabra Josipu Plemlju • Letters from Georg Faber to Josip Plemelj
Plemelj hišo na zasedenem Bledu, le da je Faber v developments in mathematics for several decades
okupatorski, Plemelj pa v okupirani državi. and was unable to give him a problem. Accord-
Po drugi svetovni vojni pa je Plemelj v ko- ing to Prof. Suhadolc, Križanič tried once more
munistični Jugoslaviji, Faber pa v demokratični to find a topic for his doctoral thesis. Plemelj sug-
Zahodni Nemčiji. Tudi karierni poti sta do neke gested that he work on the biographies of Vega,
mere podobni. Najprej ima Plemelj izrazito pred- Močnik, Hočevar, etc. Križanič was convinced
nost (nagrade za vrhunsko delo), potem pa se na that Plemelj was dismissing him as a mathema-
Univerzi v Ljubljani oddalji od svojih aktivnih tician, as this was a topic from history and not
kolegov. Plemelj postane rektor leta 1919, Faber mathematics. But that was not the case. Plemelj
pa šele leta 1945/46. Faber ostaja v jedru sve- could not give him anything else at that time.
tovne matematike, Plemelj pa je osamelec med After the First World War, Plemelj was in
provincialci. the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, while Faber was in
Zanimivo je, da se v pismih prijatelja pogo- increasingly Nazi Germany. During the Second
varjata o vrhunskih matematikih. Bolj kot to, World War (1941-1945), they were again in the
koga Faber imenuje, je zanimivo, kdo vse manj- same country for a while, considering that Ple-
ka. Faber namreč ne omenja nobenega slovenske- melj had a house in occupied Bled, while Faber
ga matematika: Vege, Močnika, Hočevarja, Zu- was in the occupying country and Plemelj in the
pančiča. Ne omenja niti Plemljevih doktorskih occupied country.