Alexander Markowich Ostrowski ( uk, Олександр Маркович Островський; russian: Алекса́ндр Ма́ркович Остро́вский; 25 September 1893, in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

– 20 November 1986, in Montagnola,

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

, Switzerland) was a mathematician. His father Mark having been a merchant, Alexander Ostrowski attended the Kiev College of Commerce, not a high school, and thus had an insufficient qualification to be admitted to university. However, his talent did not remain undetected: Ostrowski's mentor, Dmitry Grave, wrote to

Landau Landau ( pfl, Landach), officially Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990 ...

and Hensel for help. Subsequently, Ostrowski began to study mathematics at

Marburg University The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

under Hensel's supervision in 1912. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

he was interned, but thanks to the intervention of Hensel, the restrictions on his movements were eased somewhat, and he was allowed to use the university library. After the war ended Ostrowski moved to

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

where he wrote his doctoral dissertation and was influenced by Hilbert, Klein and Landau. In 1920, after having obtained his doctorate, Ostrowski moved to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

where he worked as Hecke's assistant and finished his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...

in 1922. In 1923 he returned to Göttingen, and in 1928 became Professor of Mathematics at

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS) ...

, until retirement in 1958. In 1950 Ostrowski obtained Swiss citizenship. After retirement he still published scientific papers until his late eighties.

Selected publications

* ''Vorlesungen über Differential- und Integralrechnung,'' 3 vols., Birkhäuser; vol. 1, 1945; vol. 1, 2nd edition, 1960; vol. 2, 1951; vol. 3, 1954; * ''Solution of equations and systems of equations.'' Academic Press, New York 1960; 2nd edition 1965
2016 pbk reprint of 2nd edition
* ''Aufgabensammlung zur Infinitesimalrechnung.'' several vols., Birkhäuser, Basel (1st edition 1964; 2nd edition 1972
pbk reprint vol. 1vol. 2 Avol. 2 Bvol. 3
* ''Collected mathematical papers.'' 6 vols., Birkhäuser, Basel 1983–1984
vol. 1vol. 2vol. 3vol. 4vol. 5vol. 6

References

External links

Ostrowski Foundation website: short biography
* *Gautschi, Walter
Alexander M. Ostrowski (1893-1986): His life, work, and students
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostrowski, Alexander Functional analysts Operator theorists Mathematical analysts Numerical analysts Algebraists 20th-century Ukrainian mathematicians Jewish scientists 1893 births 1986 deaths Scientists from Kyiv Ukrainian Jews Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Switzerland

Selected publications

See also

References

External links