Abraham Seidenberg (June 2, 1916 – May 3, 1988) was an American

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

Early life

Seidenberg was born on June 2, 1916 to Harry and Fannie Seidenberg in

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

He graduated with a B.A. from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in 1937. He completed his Ph.D. in mathematics from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

in 1943. His Ph.D. thesis, written under the direction of

Oscar Zariski , birth_date = , birth_place = Kobrin, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = Brookline, Massachusetts, United States , nationality = American , field = Mathematics , work_institutions = ...

, was on ''Valuation Ideals in Rings of Polynomials in Two Variables''.

Academic career

Seidenberg became an instructor in mathematics at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1945. He reached the rank of full professor in 1958. He retired from Berkeley in 1987.

Contributions

Seidenberg was known for his research in

commutative algebra Commutative algebra, first known as ideal theory, is the branch of algebra that studies commutative rings, their ideals, and modules over such rings. Both algebraic geometry and algebraic number theory build on commutative algebra. Prom ...

algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics, classically studying zeros of multivariate polynomials. Modern algebraic geometry is based on the use of abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, for solving geometrical ...

differential algebra In mathematics, differential rings, differential fields, and differential algebras are rings, fields, and algebras equipped with finitely many derivations, which are unary functions that are linear and satisfy the Leibniz product rule. A n ...

, and the

history of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments ...

. He published ''Prime ideals and integral dependence'' written jointly with

Irvin Cohen Irvin Sol Cohen (1917 – February 14, 1955) was an American mathematician at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who worked on local rings. He was a student of Oscar Zariski at Johns Hopkins University. In his thesis he proved the Cohen ...

, which greatly simplified the existing proofs of the going-up and going-down theorems of ideal theory. He also made important contributions to algebraic geometry. In 1950, he published a paper called ''The hyperplane sections of normal varieties'', which has proved fundamental in later advances. In 1968, he wrote ''Elements of the theory of algebraic curves'', a book on algebraic geometry. He published several other important papers.

Personal life

Seidenberg married Ebe Cagli. She was a writer, and the sister of Yole Cagli, Zariski's wife. Ebe and her family immigrated to the United States from Italy. The couple frequently visited Italy and Seidenberg held a visiting professorship at the

University of Milan The University of Milan ( it, Università degli Studi di Milano; la, Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), known colloquially as UniMi or Statale, is a public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe ...

Death

Seidenberg died on May 3, 1988, in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy. At the time of his death, he was in the midst of series of lectures at the University of Milan.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seidenberg, Abraham 1916 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American historians of mathematics Johns Hopkins University alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty 20th-century American historians Mathematicians from Washington, D.C.