Mathematician:Wacław Franciszek Sierpiński

Mathematician

Polish mathematician who made considerable contributions to the fields of set theory, number theory and topology, among others.

Most famous for the Sierpiński triangle.

Nationality

Polish

History

• Born: March 14, 1882, Warsaw, Poland
• Died: October 21, 1969, Warsaw, Poland

Theorems and Definitions

• Sierpiński's Constant
• Sierpiński Game
• Sierpiński's Metric Space
• Sierpiński Number
  • Sierpiński number of the first kind
  • Sierpiński number of the second kind
• Sierpiński Space

• Sierpiński's Theorem

• Several fractals are named for him, including:
  • Sierpiński Triangle, otherwise known as the Sierpiński Gasket or Sierpiński Sieve
  • Sierpiński Square
  • Sierpiński Carpet
  • Sierpiński Curve

... and Sierpiński cookies have to be seen to be believed.

Results named for Wacław Franciszek Sierpiński can be found here.

Definitions of concepts named for Wacław Franciszek Sierpiński can be found here.

Ongoing Research

• Sierpiński Problem

Publications

• 1910: The Theory of Irrational Numbers
• 1912: Outline of Set Theory
• 1912: The Theory of Numbers
• 1934: Introduction to General Topology
• 1952: General Topology
• 1956: Sur les décompositions de nombres rationnels en fractions primaires (Mathesis Vol. 65: pp. 16 – 32)
• 1970: 250 Problems in Elementary Number Theory

As editor

• 1920: took over the editorship of the journal Fundamenta Mathematicae (with Stefan Mazurkiewicz)

Sources

• John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson: "Wacław Franciszek Sierpiński": MacTutor History of Mathematics archive

• 1991: David Wells: Curious and Interesting Geometry ... (previous) ... (next): A Chronological List Of Mathematicians