Jan Łukasiewicz facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jan Łukasiewicz
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1935
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| Born | 21 December 1878 |
| Died | 13 February 1956 (aged 77) |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Alma mater | Lemberg University |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy
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| School | Lwów–Warsaw school Analytical philosophy |
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Main interests
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Philosophical logic, mathematical logic and history of logic |
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Notable ideas
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Polish notation Łukasiewicz logic Reductive reasoning |
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Influenced
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Jan Łukasiewicz (Polish: [ˈjan wukaˈɕɛvit͡ʂ]; born December 21, 1878 – died February 13, 1956) was a Polish logician and philosopher. He is famous for creating Polish notation and Łukasiewicz logic. His work focused on different types of logic, including how we think about ideas and how math uses logic.
He came up with new ways to understand traditional logic. He also explored ideas like the law of non-contradiction and the law of excluded middle. He was one of the first to create a system of many-valued logic, which means logic that uses more than just "true" or "false." Łukasiewicz also helped modern thinkers understand Aristotelian logic better.
Contents
Life Story
Jan Łukasiewicz was born in Lemberg, which was part of Austria-Hungary at the time. Today, this city is called Lviv and is in Ukraine. He was the only child of Paweł Łukasiewicz, an army captain, and Leopoldina. His family was Roman Catholic.
Early Education
Jan finished his high school studies in languages. In 1897, he went to Lemberg University. There, he studied both philosophy and mathematics. He was a student of a well-known philosopher named Kazimierz Twardowski.
In 1902, he earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree. The Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph I of Austria, even gave him a special doctoral ring with diamonds!
Becoming a Professor
After teaching privately for three years, Jan received a scholarship in 1905. This allowed him to continue his philosophy studies in Germany and Belgium.
In 1906, he became a lecturer at the University of Lemberg. Later, Emperor Franz Joseph I made him an Extraordinary Professor. He taught there until the First World War began.
In 1915, he was invited to be a full professor at the University of Warsaw. This university had been closed by the Russian government but was reopened by the German occupation authorities.
Public Service and Return to Academia
From 1919 to 1920, Łukasiewicz took a break from the university. He served as the Polish Minister of Religious Denominations and Public Education. In this role, he helped create a new Polish school curriculum. This new plan replaced the old Russian, German, and Austrian ones. His curriculum focused on teaching logical and mathematical ideas early on.
In 1928, he married Regina Barwińska.
He continued as a professor at the University of Warsaw from 1920 until 1939. At that time, his family's home was destroyed by German bombs. The university was also closed due to the German occupation. He had been the head of the university twice. During this time, he and Stanisław Leśniewski started the Lwów–Warsaw school of logic. This school later became famous around the world thanks to students like Alfred Tarski.
World War II and Later Life
During the start of the Second World War, Łukasiewicz worked at the Underground University in Warsaw. After the Nazis closed the university, he worked in the Warsaw city archive to make a living. A German professor of logic, Heinrich Scholz, helped him and his wife move to Germany in 1944. Łukasiewicz was worried about the Red Army advancing.
Jan and his wife wanted to move to Switzerland but couldn't get permission. So, they spent the end of the war in Münster, Germany. After the war, they didn't want to return to Poland, which was now controlled by the Soviet Union. They moved to Belgium, where Łukasiewicz taught logic.
In February 1946, Łukasiewicz and his wife moved to Dublin, Ireland. This was at the invitation of the Irish political leader Éamon de Valera. They stayed in Dublin until Jan's death ten years later. In Ireland, he was a Professor of Mathematical Logic at the Royal Irish Academy. He gave many public lectures there.
During this time, his book Elements of Mathematical Logic was published in English.
Jan Łukasiewicz passed away on February 13, 1956. He was buried in Dublin. However, 66 years later, his remains were brought back to Poland. He was reburied in Warsaw's Old Powązki Cemetery on November 22, 2022.
From October to December 2022, an exhibition about his life and work was held in Dublin.
His papers from after 1945 are kept at the University of Manchester Library.
His Work and Ideas
Jan Łukasiewicz created several ways to set up the rules of classical propositional logic. One of his most elegant setups uses only three basic rules, and people still use it today. He was a pioneer in studying multi-valued logics. In 1917, he introduced his three-valued propositional calculus. This was the first time someone clearly defined a non-classical logical system. He also wrote about the philosophy of science. His ideas on how scientific theories are made were similar to those of Karl Popper.
Polish Notation
Around 1920, Łukasiewicz invented Polish notation. It's named after his nationality. This notation is a way to write mathematical and logical expressions without needing brackets (like parentheses). Instead, you write the operation (like plus or minus) before the numbers or ideas it applies to.
For example, in regular math, you might write "2 + 3". In Polish notation, you would write "+ 2 3". This might seem strange at first, but it makes things very clear and avoids confusion.
Łukasiewicz mentioned in his 1951 book that he had been using this notation in his logic papers since 1929. He gave an example of a paper he wrote with Alfred Tarski in 1930.
Impact on Computers
Polish notation was a very important idea for computers. It led to the concept of the recursive stack. A stack is like a pile of plates: you can only add or remove plates from the top. This "last-in, first-out" idea was proposed by researchers like Alan Turing.
In 1957, the first computer memory system using this stack idea was built. By 1960, Łukasiewicz's notation and stacks were used as the basis for the Burroughs B5000 computer. This idea also influenced other computer designs, like the English Electric KDF9 system in 1963.
A similar idea is used in reverse Polish notation (RPN). This is a slightly different way of writing expressions, where the operation comes after the numbers. RPN is used in many Hewlett-Packard calculators, and in programming languages like LISP and Forth. It's also used in the PostScript language for describing pages to printers.
Recognition and Legacy
In 2008, the Polish Information Processing Society created the Jan Łukasiewicz Award. This award is given to the most innovative Polish IT (Information Technology) companies.
From 1999 to 2004, a computer science building at UCD (University College Dublin) was named the Łukasiewicz Building. Later, all campus buildings were renamed after the subjects taught inside them.
His work on 3-valued logic helped other logicians, like Stephen Cole Kleene, develop their own logical systems.
Important Dates
- 1878: Born in Lemberg (now Lviv).
- 1890–1902: Studied with Kazimierz Twardowski at the University of Lemberg.
- 1902: Earned his doctorate in mathematics and philosophy with the highest honors.
- 1906: Became a lecturer at the University of Lemberg.
- 1910: Wrote important essays on logic.
- 1911: Became an extraordinary professor.
- 1915: Invited to teach at the newly reopened University of Warsaw.
- 1917: Developed his famous three-valued propositional calculus.
- 1919: Served as the Polish Minister of Education.
- 1920–1939: Professor at Warsaw University. He co-founded the Lwów–Warsaw school of logic.
- 1928: Married Regina Barwińska.
- 1944: Moved to Germany for safety during the war.
- 1946: Lived in exile in Belgium.
- 1946: Moved to Dublin, Ireland, and held a position at the Royal Irish Academy.
- 1953: Wrote his autobiography.
- 1956: Died in Dublin.
Images for kids
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Warsaw University Library – at the entrance are statues of Lwów-Warsaw School philosophers, including Jan Łukasiewicz.
See also
- History of philosophy in Poland
- List of Poles
- Logical operators
- Truth function
- 27114 Lukasiewicz
