Professor Antoni Maria Emilian Hoborski (1879–1940)

Rector for the 1920–1922 term of office
Mathematics

He was born on April 1, 1879, in Tarnów, to the family of Antoni and Maria Mihldorf. In 1897, he graduated from a secondary school in Tarnów and subsequently went to study mathematics at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. After graduation, since 1901, for 18 years he worked as a teacher in secondary schools in Krakow, Tarnów and, Nowy Sącz, to name a few. In 1908, he received a doctor’s degree at the Jagiellonian University; his supervisor was Professor S. Zaremba and his doctoral dissertation was titled O całkowaniu równania różniczkowego vt = vxx + vyy [On integration of differential equation vt = vxx + vyy ] (see Prace Matematyczno-Fizyczne, vol. 20, 1901).

In the years 1908–1910, he studied abroad. In 1909, he received a bachelor’s degree in science in the field of mathematics from the Sorbonne in Paris. In the years 1909-1910, he studied in Göttingen, Germany, where he worked on calculus of variations and attended the lectures of Klein and Hilbert. His studies abroad were funded by the Osławski Foundation.

When he returned from Germany, he took a teaching position in the V Gimnazjum in Krakow. In 1911, he was giving lectures at the Jagiellonian University. In the same year, he received postdoctoral qualifications for his dissertation titled O pewnym zastosowaniu zasady najmniejszej wartości [On a certain application of the principle of least action] (see Rozprawy AU, Wydział Matematyczno-Przyrodniczy, series A, vol. 52).

In 1919, he became a full professor at the newly established Mining Academy in Krakow. He was its chief organiser and first rector. Since 1919, he had also been dean of the Faculty of Mining. In 1921, he received the title of full professor of the Jagiellonian University. In 1925, he was asked to chair the Department of Mathematics at the JU. Hoborski declined and remained at the Mining Academy. Nevertheless, he continued to deliver lectures at the Jagiellonian University, which were mainly in differential geometry.

Professor Hoborski published 66 research papers, including seven academic books and seven textbooks, such as Matematyka wyższa [Higher mathematics] (1923, part 1; 1928, part 2). His academic book, Teoria powierzchni [Surface Theory], which his death prevented him from finishing, contains the first Polish-language elaboration on the Tensor Calculus. Professor Hoborski created a textbook titled Teoria krzywych [Curves Theory] (1933), in which he consistently applied the vector method, which was a novelty in the mathematical literature. He organised a geometry school and participated in the creation of the Mathematical Society in Krakow (later Polish Mathematical Society, PTM).

In November 1939, together with other Krakow professors, he was imprisoned by the Gestapo and transferred to Wrocław, and subsequently to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where, on February 9, 1940, he died.