iauliai Math. Semin., 8 (16), 2013, 197222 MATYÁ LERCH (18601922) tefan PORUBSKÝ Institute of Computer Science of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Pod Vodárenskou v¥ºí 2, 182 07 Praha 8 Libe¬, Czech Republic; e-mail:
[email protected] To Antanas at the occasion of his 65th birthday in admiration for his contribution in expanding Lerch's heritage Abstract. We describe the life and career of MatyಠLerch, one of the most prominent Czech mathematician on the turn of 19th and 20th cen- tury. We give a short family background, proceeding to his studies at the Prague Polytechnic, his assistantship years there, forced departure to Swiss Fribourg, and return back to Bohemia. Key words and phrases: Gabriel Blaºek, Charles Hermite, MatyಠLerch, Prague Polytechnic, Franti²ek Josef Studni£ka, Eduard Weyr, Emil Weyr, University of Brno, University of Fribourg. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classication: 01A55, 01A60. Mathematicians are born, not made. H. Poincaré Mathias Lerch (in Czech Matyá²1 Lerch) is a well-known Czech mathe- matician. Lerch is one of two Czech mathematicians which name appears in Mathematics Subject Classication, namely in the form of the Lerch zeta function. Lerch published 238 papers, predominatingly on mathematical 1According to his birth certicate, his rst name was Mat¥j (=Matthew), a fact which is often a surprise, because he used the form Matyá² from the very beginning also in his papers in Czech. This name is also used on his headstone. 198 t. Porubský analysis and number theory. From these he wrote 110 within 10 years at the beginning of his carrier.