Andrzej Alexiewicz

(b. 11 February 1917, Lviv; d. 11 July 1995, Poznań)

After completing Stanisław Staszic State High School no. VI and passing the final examination in 1935, Alexiewicz became a student in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science at Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów (Lviv). He studied physics for a year, and then mathematics. In March 1939 he was employed as a deputy assistant in the First Department of Mathematics under Stefan Banach. He completed his studies in 1940 at the Ukrainian university, writing a master’s thesis under the supervision of Eustachy Żyliński. In 1941 he became a doctoral student. During the German occupation in 1941–1944 he worked as a laboratory technician at the Weigl Institute, but also took part in

underground teaching and continued his research work. He defended his doctoral dissertation at the underground university in 1944 (under the supervision of Władysław Orlicz). After the war he and his family moved to Poznań, and he took up a post at Poznań University. In July 1945 the Council of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science awarded him a doctoral degree on the basis of his dissertation defence in Lwów. After his habilitation in 1948, he took the post of docent. He became an associate professor in 1954, and a full professor in 1964, retiring in 1987. He was one of the organizers of the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, of which he was deputy dean in 1951–1954, and dean in 1954–1955. From 1956 to 1959 he served as vice-rector of Adam Mickiewicz University. In 1962–1969 he was head of the Second Department of Mathematics and director of part-time studies in mathematics. From 1969 to 1987 he was Director of the Institute of Mathematics. His academic work chiefly concerned functional analysis. He published more than 50 works, including one monograph, and supervised 21 successful doctoral students. He was a recipient of the Stefan Banach Prize of the Polish Mathematical Society, two ministerial prizes, the Medal of the National Education Commission, and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. Outside mathematics, he was a keen painter.

Roman Murawski

K. Wład, “Alexiewicz Andrzej” in: Luminarze nauki Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 1919–2019, ed. Z. Pilarczyk, Wyd. Nauk. UAM, Poznań 2019, 13–17. https://press.amu.edu.pl/pl/luminarze-nauki-uniwersytetu-poznanskiego-w-latach-19192019-5250.html
L. Maligranda, W. Wnuk, 100 lat matematyki na uniwersytecie w Poznaniu 1919–2019, Wyd. Nauk. UAM, Poznań 2021, 268–280, 371.
J. Musielak, Andrzej Alexiewicz – his life and work, Functiones et Approximatio. Commentarii Mathematici 17 (1987), 3–6.
J. Musielak, W. Wnuk, Andrzej Alexiewicz, 1917–1995, Wiadomości Matematyczne 32 (1996), 153–165.