Vojtech Jarník
Encyclopedia
Vojtěch Jarník (ˈvojcɛx ˈjarɲiːk; 1897 – 1970) was a Czech
mathematician
.
His main area of work was in number theory
and mathematical analysis
; he proved a number of results on lattice point
problems. He also developed the graph theory
algorithm known as Prim's algorithm
.
The Vojtěch Jarník International Mathematical Competition, held each year in Ostrava
, is named in his honor.
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
.
His main area of work was in number theory
Number theory
Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers. Number theorists study prime numbers as well...
and mathematical analysis
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical analysis, which mathematicians refer to simply as analysis, has its beginnings in the rigorous formulation of infinitesimal calculus. It is a branch of pure mathematics that includes the theories of differentiation, integration and measure, limits, infinite series, and analytic functions...
; he proved a number of results on lattice point
Integer lattice
In mathematics, the n-dimensional integer lattice , denoted Zn, is the lattice in the Euclidean space Rn whose lattice points are n-tuples of integers. The two-dimensional integer lattice is also called the square lattice, or grid lattice. Zn is the simplest example of a root lattice...
problems. He also developed the graph theory
Graph theory
In mathematics and computer science, graph theory is the study of graphs, mathematical structures used to model pairwise relations between objects from a certain collection. A "graph" in this context refers to a collection of vertices or 'nodes' and a collection of edges that connect pairs of...
algorithm known as Prim's algorithm
Prim's algorithm
In computer science, Prim's algorithm is a greedy algorithm that finds a minimum spanning tree for a connected weighted undirected graph. This means it finds a subset of the edges that forms a tree that includes every vertex, where the total weight of all the edges in the tree is minimized...
.
The Vojtěch Jarník International Mathematical Competition, held each year in Ostrava
Ostrava
Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the second largest urban agglomeration after Prague. Located close to the Polish border, it is also the administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region and of the Municipality with Extended Competence. Ostrava was candidate for the...
, is named in his honor.
Selected bibliography
- V. Jarník: O jistém problému minimálním [About a certain minimal problem], Práce Moravské Přírodovědecké Společnosti, 6, 1930, pp. 57–63. (in Czech)