Oscar Zariski

Oscar Zariski

Oscar Zariski (April 24, 1899 – July 4, 1986) was an American mathematician. He was born in Russia and became one of the most important algebraic geometers of the 20th century.

Algebraic geometry is a part of math that combines algebra with geometry. It helps us study shapes and their properties.

Zariski made many important discoveries. His work gave new tools and ideas that mathematicians still use today. Because of his big contributions, he is remembered as a great thinker in the world of mathematics.

Education

Oscar Zariski was born into a Jewish family in Kobrin, Russian Empire. He started his studies at the University of Kiev in 1918 but later went to the University of Rome in 1920. There, he studied with famous mathematicians and joined the Italian school of algebraic geometry.

In 1924, Zariski finished his doctoral dissertation on a topic in Galois theory, which was suggested by his teacher Guido Castelnuovo. Around this time, he also changed his name to Oscar Zariski.

Johns Hopkins University years

Zariski moved to the United States in 1927, supported by Solomon Lefschetz. He worked at Johns Hopkins University and became a professor there in 1937. During this time, he wrote a book called Algebraic Surfaces. The book came out in 1935 and was printed again later with notes from his students.

Zariski wanted to make ideas about shapes clearer. He used commutative algebra to help explain things. He developed the Zariski topology to describe smooth shapes. For more complex shapes, he looked at points very close together to understand them better.

Harvard University years

After a year at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Zariski became a professor at Harvard University in 1947. He stayed there until he retired in 1969. During this time, he talked about important ideas in math with another mathematician named André Weil.

Zariski taught many students who later became famous mathematicians, such as Shreeram Abhyankar, Heisuke Hironaka, David Mumford, Michael Artin, and Steven Kleiman. He also worked on special topics in math and wrote a book called Commutative Algebra with Pierre Samuel.

Views

Zariski was a Jewish atheist. This means he did not believe in any gods.

Awards and recognition

Oscar Zariski received many important awards for his work. He became a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1944, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1948, and the American Philosophical Society in 1951. He was given a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1939 and the U.S. National Medal of Science in 1965.

Zariski also won the Cole Prize in 1944, the Steele Prize in 1981, and the Wolf Prize in Mathematics with Lars Ahlfors in 1981. From 1969 to 1970, he was President of the American Mathematical Society. His books were published by MIT Press, and a special event was held for him in Obergurgl, Austria, in 1997.

Publications

Here are some important books written by Oscar Zariski, a famous mathematician known for his work in algebraic geometry:

• Zariski, Oscar (2004) [1935], Abhyankar, Shreeram S.; Lipman, Joseph; Mumford, David (eds.), Algebraic surfaces, Classics in mathematics (second supplemented ed.), Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-3-540-58658-6, MR (https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0469915)
• Zariski, Oscar (1958), Introduction to the problem of minimal models in the theory of algebraic surfaces, Publications of the Mathematical Society of Japan, vol. 4, The Mathematical Society of Japan, Tokyo, MR (https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0097403)
• Zariski, Oscar (1969) [1958], Cohn, James (ed.), An Introduction to the Theory of Algebraic Surfaces, Lecture notes in mathematics, vol. 83, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, doi:10.1007/BFb0082246, ISBN 978-3-540-04602-8, MR (https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0263819)
• Zariski, Oscar; Samuel, Pierre (1975) [1958], Commutative algebra I, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, vol. 28, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-0-387-90089-6, MR (https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0090581)
• Zariski, Oscar; Samuel, Pierre (1975) [1960], Commutative algebra. Vol. II, Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag, ISBN 978-0-387-90171-8, MR (https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0389876)
• Zariski, Oscar (2006) [1973], Kmety, François; Merle, Michel; Lichtin, Ben (eds.), The moduli problem for plane branches, University Lecture Series, vol. 39, Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society, ISBN 978-0-8218-2983-7, MR (https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0414561)(original title): Le problème des modules pour les branches planes`{{}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Zariski, Oscar (1972), Collected papers. Vol. I: Foundations of algebraic geometry and resolution of singularities, Cambridge, Massachusetts-London: MIT Press, ISBN 978-0-262-08049-1, MR (https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0505100)
• Zariski, Oscar (1973), Collected papers. Vol. II: Holomorphic functions and linear systems, Mathematicians of Our Time, Cambridge, Massachusetts-London: MIT Press, ISBN 978-0-262-01038-2, MR (https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0505100)
• Zariski, Oscar (1978), Artin, Michael; Mazur, Barry (eds.), Collected papers. Volume III. Topology of curves and surfaces, and special topics in the theory of algebraic varieties, Mathematicians of Our Time, Cambridge, Massachusetts-London: MIT Press, ISBN 978-0-262-24021-5, MR (https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0505104)
• Zariski, Oscar (1979), Lipman, Joseph; Teissier, Bernard (eds.), Collected papers. Vol. IV. Equisingularity on algebraic varieties, Mathematicians of Our Time, vol. 16, MIT Press, ISBN 978-0-262-08049-1, MR (https://mathscinet.ams.org/mathscinet-getitem?mr=0545653)