Jur Hronec

He was a remarkable Slovak mathematician, who was born in 1881 in Gočov and died in 1959 in Bratislava.

He grew up in a humble family and after finishing grammar school in Rožňava, he studied mathematics and physics at the Kluž University with the aid of professor Ľudovít Schlesinger.

After the university studies, in 1906 – 1922 (with short pauses due to his studies abroad), he worked at the grammar school in Kežmarok. From 1908 to 1914, he studied in Göttingen, Giessen, Berlin, in Switzerland and in Paris, in 1922/1923 in Prague, Göttingen and Giessen. He stated his dissertation thesis about differential equations in 1912 in Giessen. Jur Hronec started his career at the Charles University in Prague in the year 1923. From 1924 to 1939, he worked as a professor of mathematics on ČVUT (Czech technical university) in Brno. His work as a pedagogue defined his science alignment in the future. He applied his research on technical problems. The global works of Jur Hronec can be divided into three different areas: science, pedagogical work and public work. Scientifically, he dealt mostly with differential equations. He focused on working on problems of the Fuchs’ theory of linear differential equations and he generalized them. Jur Hronec is the author of many scientific works, publications and college schoolbooks, which include important ones, such as:

·        Algebraic equations and their use in analytic geometry (1923, 1949)

·        General linear differential equations (1938)

·        The differential and integral numbers I, II (1941, 1957) – the first Slovak college schoolbook of mathematics

·        Differential equations I, II (1956 - 1958)

·        Various science works published in magazines

He lectured at many state and international symposiums and conferences. During his career as a scientist and pedagogue, he was in touch with mathematicians from abroad and co-operated with Czech mathematicians. He underlined the role of a teacher in his pedagogical works:

·        Mathematics as a tool of education  (Kluž, 1906)

·        Learning process and learning individuality (1923)

·        Teacher’s individuality (1926)

Jur Hronec was established director of the Action for building of universities. He was careful about teenagers. He organised many mathematic competitions for young students. He was the very first Slovak mathematician who worked with Czech mathematic union as a member. He established the Union in Slovakia. He taught nearly 2 generations of Slovak mathematicians. He died at the 1. of December 1959 in Bratislava.

His scientific and pedagogical work was awarded. The Union of Czechoslovakian mathematics decorated him as a honour member. In 1962 he got a gold medal of J.A.Komenský.