Editing Stefan Banach (section)

===Early life===
Stefan Banach was born on 30 March 1892 at St. Lazarus General Hospital in [[Kraków]], then part of the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian Empire]], into a [[Gorals|Góral]] [[Roman Catholic]] family,<ref name=SBHomePage /> and was subsequently baptised by his father.<ref name=MacTutor />{{sfn|Stachura|1999|p=51}} Banach's parents were Stefan Greczek and Katarzyna [[Banach]], both natives of the [[Podhale]] region.{{sfn|Waksmundzka-Hajnos|2006|p=16}}{{sfn|Duda|2009|p=29}} Greczek was a soldier in the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]] stationed in Kraków. Little is known about Banach's mother.<ref name=MacTutor /> According to his [[Baptism|baptismal certificate]], she was born in [[Borówna]] and worked as a domestic helper.{{sfn|Duda|2009|p=29}}

Unusually, Stefan's surname was his mother's instead of his father's, though he received his father's given name, Stefan. Military regulations did not permit soldiers of Stefan Greczek's rank to [[marriage|marry]]; he was a [[private (rank)|private]] and as the mother was too poor to support the child, the couple decided that he should be reared by family and friends.<ref name="Kałuża-2–4">{{Harvnb|Kałuża|1996|pp=2–4}}</ref> Stefan spent the first few years of his life with his grandmother, but when she was taken ill, Greczek arranged for his son to be raised by Franciszka Płowa and her niece Maria Puchalska in Kraków. Young Stefan came to regard Franciszka as his foster mother and Maria as his older sister.<ref name="Kałuża-1-3">{{Harvnb|Kałuża|1996|pp=1–3}}</ref> In his early years Banach was tutored by Juliusz Mien, a French intellectual and friend of the Płowa family, who had emigrated to Poland and supported himself with photography and translations of Polish literature into French. Mien taught Banach French and most likely encouraged him in his early mathematical pursuits.<ref name="Kałuża-3">{{Harvnb|Kałuża|1996|p=3}}</ref>

In 1902, Banach, aged 10, enrolled in Kraków's ''IV Gymnasium'' (also known as the ''[[Jan Albin Goetz|Goetz Gymnasium]]''). While the school specialized in the [[humanities]], Banach and his best friend [[Witold Wilkosz|Witold Wiłkosz]] (also a future mathematician) spent most of their time working on mathematics problems during breaks and after school.<ref name="Kałuża-137">{{Harvnb|Kałuża|1996|p=137}}</ref> Later in life Banach credited Dr. Kamil Kraft, the mathematics and physics teacher at the school, with kindling his interests in mathematics.<ref name="rem4"/> While Banach was a diligent student he did, on occasion, receive low grades (he failed Greek during his first semester at the school) and later spoke critically of the school's math teachers.<ref name="Kałuża-3-4">{{Harvnb|Kałuża|1996|pp=3–4}}</ref>

After obtaining his ''[[matura]]'' (high school degree) at age 18 in 1910, Banach moved to [[Lwów]] (today called [[Lviv]]) with the intention of studying at the [[Lwów Polytechnic]]. He initially chose engineering as his field of study since at the time he was convinced that there was nothing new to discover in mathematics.<ref name="rem5"/> At some point he also attended [[Jagiellonian University]] in Kraków on a part-time basis. As Banach had to earn money to support his studies it was not until 1914 that he finally, at age 22, passed his high school graduation exams.<ref name="Kałuża-13">{{Harvnb|Kałuża|1996|p=13}}</ref>

When [[World War I]] broke out, Banach was excused from military service due to his left-handedness and poor vision. When the [[Imperial Russian Army|Russian Army]] opened its offensive toward Lwów, Banach left for Kraków, where he spent the rest of the war. He made his living as a [[tutor]] at the local schools, worked in a bookstore and as a foreman of a road building crew. He attended some lectures at the [[Jagiellonian University]] at that time, including those of the famous Polish mathematicians [[Stanisław Zaremba (mathematician)|Stanisław Zaremba]] and [[Kazimierz Żorawski]], but little is known of that period of his life.<ref name="Kałuża-16">{{Harvnb|Kałuża|1996|p=16}}</ref>