Vladimir Varičak

Vladimir Varičak (March 1, 1865 – January 17, 1942) was a Croatian mathematician and theoretical physicist of Serbian descent.

Varičak studied physics and mathematics at the University of Zagreb from 1883 to 1887. He made his PhD in 1889 and got his habilitation in 1895. In 1899 he became professor of mathematics in Zagreb, where he gave lectures until his death in 1942.

His work in mathematics was very prolific and expansive, however his most important contributions were interpretations of the theory of special relativity. However, his attempts to reformulate special relativity in a non-Euclidean way did not lead to new physical insights.

Varičak was a collaborator with Albert Einstein. However, Einstein criticized Varičak's interpretations of special relativity. For example, Varičak believed that length contraction is only an "apparent" or a "psychological" phenomena.

ources

*Citation | author=Prvanović, Mileva & Blagojević, Milutin | contribution= [http://www.mi.sanu.ac.yu/History/Varičak.htm Vladimir Varičak 1865–1942] | editor=V. Đorđević, D. Vitorović, D. Marinković| journal=Lives and work of the Serbian scientists| publisher=Serbian Academy of Sciencies and Arts|place= Belgrad|year=2006
*Citation | author=Walter, S. | year=1999 | editor=J. Gray | contribution= [http://www.univ-nancy2.fr/DepPhilo/walter/ The non-Euclidean style of Minkowskian relativity: Vladimir Varicak’s non-Euclidean program] | journal=The Symbolic Universe: Geometry and Physics |pages=91–127 | publisher=Oxford University Press
*Citation | author=Miller, A.I. | year=1981 | title= Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity. Emergence (1905) and early interpretation (1905–1911) | place= Reading |publisher=Addison–Wesley |pages=249–253 | isbn=0-201-04679-2 | ISBN status=May be invalid - please double check
*Citation | author=Sauer, T. | year=2007 | editor=H. Kleinert, R.T. Jantzen and R. Ruffini | contribution= [http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.0962 The Einstein-Varičak Correspondence on Relativistic Rigid Rotation] | journal=Proceedings of the Eleventh Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity | publisher=World Scientific|place= Singapore

Publications

*Citation | author=Varičak, V. | year=1908 | title= [http://www.digizeitschriften.de/resolveppn/GDZPPN002121409 Beiträge zur nichteuklidischen Geometrie] | journal=Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung | volume =17| pages =70–83
*Citation | author=Varičak, V. | year=1911 | title=Zum Ehrenfestschen Paradoxon | journal=Physikalische Zeitschrift | volume =12| pages =169
*Citation | author=Varičak, V. | year=1912 | title= [http://www.digizeitschriften.de/resolveppn/GDZPPN002123681 Über die nichteuklidische Interpretation der Relativitätstheorie] | journal=Jahresbericht der Deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung | volume =21| pages =103–127