Ivan Vidav

Ivan Vidav ( born January 17, 1918 in Trieste ) is a former Yugoslav mathematician.

Life

Vidav began in 1937 to study mathematics at the University of Ljubljana and in 1941 with the dissertation Kleinovi teoremi v teoriji linearnih diferencialnih enačb ( German: Klein sets in the theory of linear differential equations) doctorate at Josip Plemelj. In 1949 he was appointed there as assistant professor and in 1953 professor. Since 1985 he is Professor Emeritus.

Vidavs main work areas are functional analysis and algebra. In 1956 he proved a theorem that characterizes the C *-algebras among all Banach algebras; this was later extended by Theodore W. Palmer and is therefore now known set of Vidav - Palmer known.

For his textbooks Višja Matematika ( Maths ) I and II in 1952, he received the Prešeren Award (Slovenian Culture Award ). In 1958 he was elected a corresponding member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1962 and a full member. 1992 Vidav was awarded the State Prize for his life's work.