Some facts and gossips about Stefan Banach

Stefan Banach is generally regarded as the best Polish mathematician in history. In the database Zentralblatt fur Mathematik his family name is most frequently mentioned in the titles of scientific mathematical papers. This is because the notion of "Banach space" became very important in mathematics and much research has been made in this area. Despite his mathematical achievements, he was a very interesting personality, and many stories have been told and written about him. In many books and articles, written as well by experts as by people not connected with the history of mathematics, one may read several amazing stories. For example, that he was born out of wedlock and Banach was not the surname of anyone in his family but that of a washerwoman into whose care he was given shortly after his birth. There is a famous story that Banach did not want to write his Ph.D. and he was taking PhD exam not realizing that he was being examined by a special commission. He is said to work mainly in cafe. There is a story that he was offered a large amount of money for going to work to the USA but he refused. Are these stories true? This will be presented in the lecture, based on historical documents.
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