Page 145 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

or one’s correspondent due to the prying eyes of
the secret services.
Oset’s book also includes Plemelj’s note-
book in the introductory section, which con-
Slika/Figure 4
tains the names of more than 100 great math-
ematicians. This gives an insight into Plemelj’s
niti doma niti po svetu, ni sodeloval pri ustvar- mathematical world around 1912. There are no
janju matematike. Takrat timsko delo še ni bilo Balkan mathematicians in it. This, of course,
v navadi. Človek dobi vtis, da se je že kmalu po means that he was aware of the mathematical
obdobju Berlina in Göttingena Plemljevo delo desert he was heading into after the end of the
prelomilo. Pri svojih objavah je naletel na zavla- First World War. The list of people at the end
čevanje ali pa njegovega dela niso želeli pravilno of Oset’s book shows that Plemelj did not write
ovrednotiti. Oset sklepa, da je bil Fredholm od- to Fabru about any mathematicians from these 145
ločilen za to, da je neko Plemljevo pomembno parts, not even Vidav. There is no indication that
delo izšlo kasneje, kot bi moralo. Plemelj wanted to nurture Slovenian research
Žal pa Plemelj ni čutil potrebe, da bi se učil mathematicians. He himself states this when he
novejših poglavij matematike, kakršna je npr. to- claims to have ‘discovered’ Vidav, but did not
pologija, še manj pa, da bi jih sam pomagal raz- ‘nurture’ him. When Vidav received his doctor-
vijati (slika 4). ate, Plemelj was already 68 years old.
Faber, tako kot Plemelj, ni bil praktičen člo- He had already learned a great deal of
vek. Oba sta si idealistično predstavljala svojo mathematics on his own in secondary school.
pomembnost univerzitetnega profesorja in sta Complex problems in elementary mathemat-
si zgradila preveliki hiši. Plemelj v nekaterih av- ics interested him throughout his life. He did
stro-ogrskih turističnih vodnikih v letih 1910– not collaborate with anyone, either at home or
1914 – tik ob slovitem Paulu Rikliju – reklami- abroad, in the creation of mathematics. Team-
ra pet sob, kuhinjo, dve verandi in vrt svoje vile work was not yet common practice at that time.
(Villa Stella) na Bledu (slika 4) (Bayer 1910; Za- One gets the impression that Plemelj’s work
vodnik 2015). Seveda vse praktične probleme came to a halt soon after his time in Berlin and Pisma Georga Fabra Josipu Plemlju • Letters from Georg Faber to Josip Plemelj
gradnje, vzdrževanja itd. prepušča drugim. To Göttingen. His publications were met with de-
pa zagotovo ni način za varčevanje. lays, or his work was not adequately evaluated.
Ko smo matematiki podvrženi velikemu Oset concludes that Fredholm was instrumental
stresu, v splošnem delujemo na dva možna na- in delaying the publication of some of Plemelj’s
čina. Realne probleme najraje ignoriramo in se important work.
znova in znova potapljamo v čudoviti svet mate- Unfortunately, Plemelj did not feel the
matike, kjer so problemi bolj izzivi kot kaj dru- need to learn newer chapters of mathematics,
gega. Če nam to ne uspe, pa se nam lahko zgodi such as topology, let alone help develop them
ravno nasprotno: odrevenimo in matematiko ter himself.
njene probleme postavimo v drugi plan. Tako je Like Plemelj, Faber was not a practical man.
reagiral Plemelj ob prvi svetovni vojni. Both idealistically imagined their importance as
Osetovo knjigo lahko razumemo več pla- university professors and built houses that were
stno. Naj naštejemo le nekatere plasti. Po eni too large. In some Austro-Hungarian tourist
strani v njej vidimo razvoj nekega matematič- guides from 1910 to 1914, Plemelj – right next to
nega prijateljstva skozi zelo dolgo obdobje, ki pa the famous Paul Rikli – advertises the five rooms,
večino časa poteka le na daljavo. Po drugi strani kitchen, two verandas and garden of his villa (Vil-
spoznamo razmere, v katerih sta živela in dela- la Stella) in Bled. Of course, he left all the prac-
la geografsko in politično ter nacionalno ločena tical problems of construction, maintenance,