Born:13 December 1887 in Budapest, HungaryDied:7 September 1985 in Palo Alto, California, USA

George Plya's parents were Anna Deutsch and Jakab Plya who were both Jewish. Anna was from a family who had lived for many generations in Buda, and she had been nineteen years old in 1872 when the towns of Buda, Obuda, and Pest had administratively merged to become the city of Budapest. Perhaps we should say a little about George Plya's names, for the situation is not quite as it appears. In fact, although Jakab Plya had the name "Plya" when his son Gyrgy (or George as he was later known) was born, he had only called himself Plya for the five preceding years. Before that his name had been Jakab Pollk but, in order to understand why Jakab Pollk changed his name to Plya, we need to look at both his career and at a little Hungarian history.Jakab was trained as a lawyer, ran his own law firm which failed, and then worked for the international insurance company Assicurazioni Generali of Trieste. However what he really wanted was a university post in which he could conduct research into the subjects which really interested him, namely economics and statistics. After 1867 Hungary had gained full internal independence within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the political philosophy of the country was to move towards a Hungarian state that was both Magyar in spirit, and in its institutions. What better way for Jakab Pollk to improve his chances of a university post than to change his name from a Jewish sounding one to one which sounded really Hungarian. He did just that in 1882 and whether it contributed to his success in getting an appointment as aPrivatdozentat the University of Budapest, one cannot say but he received such a post shortly before he died in his early fifties when George was ten years old.In fact although George's parents were Jewish, he was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church shortly after his birth. How did this come about? Well Jakab, Anna, and their three children at the time, converted from the Jewish faith to the Roman Catholic faith in 1886, the year before George's birth.When Jakab Plya died in 1897 he left a wife, Anna aged 44 at the time, and five children. George had an older brother Jen, who was 21 years old and studying medicine when his father died, two older sisters Ilona (10 years older than George) and Flra (8 years older than George) who went to work for the insurance company Assicurazioni Generali to help support the family, and a younger brother Lsl (4 years younger than George). It is worth pointing out that Jen, who loved mathematics and always regretted not having pursued that subject, is perhaps as well known to medical people as George is to mathematicians. However, it was Lsl who was considered the brightest of the children, but sadly he was killed in World War I before making a name for himself. Perhaps given how much effort his father had put in trying to enter the academic profession, it is slightly surprising that George's mother should press him to follow his father's profession of law but this is exactly what she did.George attended elementary school in Budapest and received his certificate in 1894 which recorded (see for example [2]):-

GKwU cqvivi `vg 5 UvKv| `yB WRb cqvivi `vg KZ?

( Understanding the problem) (Devise a plan) (Carry out the plan) ( Look back on your work) 16c_g g~jbxwZ: mgmv eySZ cviv| c_gZ mgmvwU eySZ ne| GZ Kx PvIqv nqQ Zv eyS `LZ ne| wewfb kZi AvjvK mgmvi Ici GKwU Quwe Ab KiZ ne|wZxq g~jbxwZ: mgmv mgvavbi Rb GKwU cwiKbv cYqb KiZ ne| c` Z_ ev Dcv I ARvbv ivwki mK vcb KiZ ne| ZZxq g~jbxwZ: cwiKbv evevqb Kiv| cwZ avci gvb wbaviYi Rb wPv KiZ ne I cwiKbv evevqb KiZ ne| PZz_ g~jbxwZ: mv`vgvUv K_vq wcQb wdi `Lv| A_vr mgmv mgvavb cwqvwU chvjvPbv Kiv ev dj cixv Ki `Lv| G bxwZjv AbymiY Ki Avgiv h Kvb MvwYwZK mgmvK evLv I mgvavb KiZ cvwi |

avc-1: mgmv Abyaveb: h h Z_ `qv AvQ Ges Kx ei KiZ ne? avc-2:cwiKbv Kiv: Z_i evLv: KZwU Ges Kx `i? avc-3: cwiKbv evevqb: Kx Kx Dcvq `vg ei KiZ ne Zv wbaviY Kiv avc-4: mgvavb cwqv hvPvB Kiv: djvdji Zv wbYq Kiv| 3wU gyiMx I 4wU nuvmi g~j 1090 UvKv| 1wU gyiMxi `vg 150 UvKv nj 1wU nvmi `vg KZ? c_g `j t 1 b^i g~jbxwZ wZxq `j t 2 b^i g~jbxwZ ZZxq `j t 3 b^i g~jbxwZ PZz_ `j t 3 b^i I 4 b^i g~jbxwZ