Petr Vopěnka

Life & Legacy

Petr Vopěnka (16 May 1935 – 20 March 2015) was a Czech mathematician. In the early seventies, he developed alternative set theory (i.e. alternative to the classical Cantor theory), which he subsequently developed in a series of articles and monographs. Vopěnka’s name is associated with many mathematical achievements, including Vopěnka's principle.
Since the mid-eighties he concerned himself with philosophical questions of mathematics (particularly vis-à-vis Husserlian phenomenology).
Vopěnka served as the Minister of Education of the Czech Republic (then part of Czechoslovakia) from 1990 to 1992 within the government of Prime Minister Petr Pithart.