Nathan Jacobson (October 5, 1910 – December 5, 1999) 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 ...
.
Biography
Born Nachman Arbiser in Warsaw, Jacobson emigrated to America with his family in 1918. He graduated from the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...
in 1930 and was awarded a doctorate in mathematics from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
in 1934. While working on his thesis, ''Non-commutative polynomials and cyclic algebras'', he was advised by
Joseph Wedderburn
Joseph Henry Maclagan Wedderburn FRSE FRS (2 February 1882 – 9 October 1948) was a Scottish mathematician, who taught at Princeton University for most of his career. A significant algebraist, he proved that a finite division algebra is a fie ...
.
Jacobson taught and researched at
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...
(1935–1936), the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
(1936–1937), the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
(1937–1943), and
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 ...
(1943–1947) before joining
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in 1947. He remained at Yale until his retirement.
He was a member of the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
and the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
. He served as president of the
American Mathematical Society
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...
from 1971 to 1973, and was awarded their highest honour, the
Leroy P. Steele prize
The Leroy P. Steele Prizes are awarded every year by the American Mathematical Society, for distinguished research work and writing in the field of mathematics. Since 1993, there has been a formal division into three categories.
The prizes have b ...
for lifetime achievement, in 1998. He was also vice-president of the
International Mathematical Union
The International Mathematical Union (IMU) is an international non-governmental organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of mathematics across the world. It is a member of the International Science Council (ISC) and supports ...
from 1972 to 1974.
Selected works
Books
*Collected Mathematical Papers, 3 vols., 1989
''The theory of Rings.''1943
*''Lectures in Abstract Algebra.'' 3 vols., Van Nostrand 1951, 1953, 1964, Reprint by Springer 1975 (Vol.1 Basic concepts, Vol.2 Linear Algebra, Vol.3 Theory of fields and Galois theory)
*''Structure of Rings.'' AMS 1956
*''Lie Algebras.'' Interscience 1962
AMS 1968
Dekker 1971
*''Basic Algebra.'' Freeman, San Francisco 1974, Vol. 1; 1980, Vol. 2;
*''PI-Algebras. An Introduction.'' Springer 1975
1996
Articles
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*with F. D. Jacobson:
*
*with
C. E. Rickart:
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*with C. E. Rickart:
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See also
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Jacobson–Bourbaki theorem
In algebra, the Jacobson–Bourbaki theorem is a theorem used to extend Galois theory to field extensions that need not be separable. It was introduced by for commutative fields and extended to non-commutative fields by , and who credited the r ...
*
Jacobson's conjecture
*
Jacobson density theorem In mathematics, more specifically non-commutative ring theory, modern algebra, and module theory, the Jacobson density theorem is a theorem concerning simple modules over a ring .
The theorem can be applied to show that any primitive ring can be vi ...
*
Jacobson radical In mathematics, more specifically ring theory, the Jacobson radical of a ring R is the ideal consisting of those elements in R that annihilate all simple right R-modules. It happens that substituting "left" in place of "right" in the definition y ...
*
Jacobson ring
In algebra, a Hilbert ring or a Jacobson ring is a ring such that every prime ideal is an intersection of primitive ideals. For commutative rings primitive ideals are the same as maximal ideals so in this case a Jacobson ring is one in which ever ...
References
External links
*
*
An interview with William L. Duren, Nathan Jacobson, and Edward J. McShane about their experiences at Princeton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobson, Nathan
1910 births
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
1999 deaths
Polish emigrants to the United States
20th-century American mathematicians
Algebraists
University of Alabama alumni
Princeton University alumni
Bryn Mawr College faculty
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty
Johns Hopkins University faculty
Yale University faculty
Presidents of the American Mathematical Society