Prof. RNDr. Ján SRB (9 April 1898 - 22 February 1964) Srb

He was born on 9 April 1898 in Telč, where he attended both primary school and a real gymnasium. He graduated in 1916.

1916 - 1918 - soldier on the battlefields of the World War.
1919 - 1924 - studied mathematics and descriptive geometry at Charles University and Czech Technical University in Prague
1923 - 1949 - teacher and headmaster at six Moravian gymnasiums and real schools
1949 - 1953 - lecturer at the Faculty of Education in Brno
1949 - awarded the RNDr. degree
1950 - appointed associate professor
1953 - 1964 - lecturer at the Faculty of Science of the Slovak University
1958 - appointed professor
1960 - appointed head of the newly established Department of Geometry at PFUK

Research focus - synthetic projective and algebraic geometry (decomposition of certain types of collineations into products of harmonic homologies, issues of superquadrics, extension of the classical Pascal theorem, special mapping methods of descriptive geometry in n-dimensional affine and Euclidean space). He supervised several doctoral candidates.
He devoted himself to the methodology of teaching mathematics; in the interwar period he was a member of the regional examination commission in Brno for specialist teachers of middle schools, and after World War II he co-authored mathematics textbooks (with E. Čech).
He was a recipient of the Comenius University Gold Medal and the JČSMF Commemorative Medal (1962) and was awarded the title of honorary member of JČSMF.

 

Prof. RNDr. Viktor SVITEK (22 April 1908 - 13 June 1971)Svitek

He was born on 22 April 1908 in Dohňany, district of Považská Bystrica.

1928 - school-leaving examination
1928 - 1934 - studied mathematics and descriptive geometry at Charles University and Czech Technical University in Prague
1936 - 1938 - mathematics teacher at the State Real Gymnasium in Lučenec
1938 - 1940 - teacher at the Girls’ Gymnasium
1940 - 1943 - mathematics teacher at the State Gymnasium (boys’) in Žilina
1942 - defended dissertation on projections in multidimensional spaces
1943 - 1947 - mathematics teacher at the State Training Gymnasium in Bratislava
1943 - as an honorary docent lectured on some geometric disciplines at the Faculty of Science of the Slovak University
1947 - 1953 - professor at the Faculty of Education
1953 - 1959 - professor and head of the Department of Mathematics at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Pedagogical University
1959 - 1960 - professor at the Department of Mathematics PFUK
1960 - 1971 - professor at the Department of Geometry PFUK

Research focus - synthetic and algebraic methods of projective and descriptive geometry, projective-geometric approaches to the study of curves and surfaces.
Monographs - New solutions of curves and surfaces, Logical foundations of geometry. He authored several scripts and teaching texts - Introduction to Planimetry, Introduction to Stereometry, Projective Geometry, Differential Geometry, Fundamentals of Geometry.
He supervised several doctoral candidates.
He held various positions in education and in JČSMF.

 

Doc. RNDr. Milič SYPTÁK, CSc. (22 March 1907 - 3 December 1983) Syptak

He was born on 22 March 1907 in Prusinovce in Moravia. He attended primary school in Prusinovce and a real gymnasium in Holešov, where he graduated in 1925.

1925 - 1929 - studied mathematics and descriptive geometry at the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University in Brno
1930 - 1932 - assistant to Prof. Seifert at the University in Brno
1932 - teacher at a middle school in Zvolen
1933 - 1938 - assistant to Prof. Hronec at the Technical University in Brno
1938 - 1942 - substituted lectures of Prof. Hronec after his departure to Slovakia (until the closure of Czech universities)
1934 - awarded the RNDr. degree
1943 - 1946 - professor at the real gymnasium in Nové Město na Moravě, later at the State Industrial School in Hradec Králové
1946 - 1950 - lecturer at the Faculty of Education in Brno (private docent)
1950 - 1979 - associate professor at PFUK (until retirement)
1961 - awarded the scientific degree CSc. (Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences)
1964 - 1970 - head of the Department of Geometry

Research focus - differential geometry of special curves in n-dimensional Euclidean space (supercircles, superspirals and their generalisations, their evolvents, logarithmic and power spirals). His first two papers were published in Comptes Rendus in Paris. He was influenced by E. Čech, O. Borůvka, J. Hronec. Before moving to Bratislava, he was a regular participant in Čech’s topological seminar; in Bratislava he co-organised a seminar on complex projective geometry. He supervised several doctoral candidates.
In 1969 he was awarded the title of Merited Teacher.

 

Doc. RNDr. Vladimír PIJÁK (6 June 1923 - 6 May 1998) Pijak

He was born on 6 June 1923 in Ochodnica, district of Žilina. He completed gymnasium in 1942 in Žilina.

1944 - 1947 - teacher at middle schools
1948 - 1951 - student at the Faculty of Education of the Slovak University in Bratislava
1951 - 1953 - assistant at the Faculty of Education and later conscript soldier
1953 - 1957 - research assistant at the Higher Pedagogical School in Bratislava
1957 - completed distance studies in mathematics - descriptive geometry at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Higher Pedagogical School in Bratislava
1957 - 1959 - research assistant at the Department of Mathematics of the Higher Pedagogical School in Bratislava
1959 - 1960 - research assistant at the Department of Mathematics of the Faculty of Science of Comenius University
1960 - 1972 - research assistant at the Department of Geometry of the Faculty of Science of Comenius University
1968 - awarded the RNDr. degree
1972 - 1990 - associate professor at the Department of Geometry of the Faculty of Science of Comenius University (from 1980 at the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Comenius University)

He was the head of the authorial team of the university textbook Constructive Geometry. He participated in the organisational preparation of teaching content and in the development of several textbooks for secondary vocational schools.
From 1971 to 1986 he was head of the Department of Geometry; from 1972 to 1980 he was vice-dean of the Faculty of Science of Comenius University and a member of the faculty’s scientific council as head of the mathematical section.

 

Prof. RNDr. Václav MEDEK (23 October 1923 - 31 March 1992) Medek

He was born on 23 October 1923 in Žilina, where he also graduated from a real gymnasium.

1946 - graduate in mathematics and descriptive geometry at the Faculty of Science of the Slovak University in Bratislava
1946 - 1956 - assistant at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava
1948 - awarded the RNDr. degree
1956 - 1965 - associate professor at the Department of Mathematics and Descriptive Geometry of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Slovak University of Technology
from 1965 - professor at the Department of Mathematics and Descriptive Geometry of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Slovak University of Technology
After retirement, he worked as an external professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Slovak University of Technology in Trnava and at the Faculty of Architecture of the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava.

Research focus - classical projective geometry, incidence structures, finite projective planes (synthetic construction of the Hesse cubic, nonlinear systems of conics, mappings of projectivities and planar collineations onto points of 3- and 8-dimensional projective space, Rozenfeld’s interpretation of complex space, finite ovals), computer geometry and computer graphics (construction of the outline of convex surfaces, limit of a finite point set in the plane).

He is the author or co-author of several university textbooks and scripts, as well as secondary school textbooks and collections in descriptive geometry and mathematics, for example:
Čeněk - Medek: Course in Descriptive Geometry I, II (1952, 1954)
Piska-Medek: Descriptive Geometry I, II (1966, 1972, 1975)
Medek: Descriptive Geometry (1962)
Medek - Zámožík: Constructive Geometry for Technicians (1978)
Medek, Mišík, Šalát: Repetitorium of Secondary School Mathematics

He served in various roles in the Union of Czechoslovak Mathematicians and Physicists (JČSMF) for almost 30 years (1973 - 1981 - chairman of JSMF and vice-chairman of JČSMF, chairman of the commission for mathematics at VŠTEP, chairman of the expert commission for descriptive geometry, computer graphics and technical drawing).
He devoted himself to popularising mathematics (and descriptive geometry) in the press, radio and television. He was a member of editorial boards of several professional journals, chairman of the editorial commission for theoretical literature of the ALFA publishing house.
He was chairman of the Terminology Commission of the Slovak Academy of Sciences for mathematics for over 20 years. He was the lead author of a two-volume five-language mathematical translation dictionary.
He organised scientific seminars, several scientific symposia and conferences, and supervised several doctoral candidates.

 

Doc. RNDr. Michal GRAJCAR, CSc. (20 October 1930 - 19 October 1995) Grajcar

He was born on 20 October 1930 in Oľšavica, district of Levoča. He graduated in 1950 from the gymnasium in Prešov and taught for one year at a primary school in Brutovce, district of Levoča.

1951 - 1955 - studied mathematics and descriptive geometry at the Faculty of Science of Comenius University in Bratislava
1955 - 1960 - assistant and research assistant at the Department of Mathematics of PFUK in Bratislava
1960 - 1980 - research assistant at the Department of Geometry of PFUK in Bratislava
1967 - awarded the RNDr. degree, defended candidate dissertation in the field of geometry and topology and obtained the scientific degree CSc.
1980 - appointed associate professor in mathematics
1980 - 1984 - research assistant and associate professor at the Department of Geometry of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Comenius University
1984 - 1995 - associate professor at the Department of Fundamentals of Mathematics and Didactics of Mathematics of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Comenius University

Research focus - geometry of n-dimensional Euclidean space (metric properties of simplices). He was a member of the research team working on the modernisation of teaching mathematics and descriptive geometry.
He was co-author of the university textbook Constructive Geometry (1984), contributed to the work Small Encyclopedia of Mathematics (1978) and the five-language Technical Translation Dictionary of Mathematics.