Józef H. Przytycki
Józef Henryk Przytycki, is a mathematician specializing in the fields of knot theory and topology.Biography
A native of Poland, Przytycki received a Master of Science degree in mathematics from University of Warsaw in 1977. After emigrating to the United States, he obtained in 1981 a Ph.D. in mathematics from Columbia University, where his advisor was Joan Birman. Przytycki then returned to Poland, where he became an assistant professor at the University of Warsaw. From 1986 to 1995 he held visiting positions at the University of British Columbia, the University of Toronto, Michigan State University, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, the University of California, Riverside, Odense University, and the University of California, Berkeley. In 1995 he joined the Mathematics Department at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., rising to the rank of professor in 1999. According to the Mathematics Genealogy Project, he has supervised 13 Ph.D. students. He has authored and co-authored many mathematical publications, including more than 100 research papers, 25 conference proceedings and 2 books, having over 1,470 citations on MathSciNet.
In 1987, Przytycki and Pawel Traczyk published a paper, which included a description of what is now called the HOMFLY polynomial. Postal delays prevented Przytycki and Traczyk from receiving full recognition alongside the other six discoverers. Przytycki also introduced skein modules in a paper written in 1989 and published in 1991; see also his entry in the online Encyclopedia of Mathematics.
Every semester since 1995, Przytycki has co-organized the conference Knots in Washington. He also co-organized several international Knot Theory conferences in Europe, for example Knots in Poland, Knots in Hellas, and the Advanced School and Conference on Knot Theory and its Applications to Physics and Biology, Trieste, Italy.
Józef Przytycki is married to computational biologist and mathematician Teresa Przytycka. They have two sons.
