Samuel L. Greitzer (August 10, 1905 – February 22, 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 ...
, the founding chairman of the
United States of America Mathematical Olympiad
The United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) is a highly selective high school mathematics competition held annually in the United States. Since its debut in 1972, it has served as the final round of the American Mathematics Compe ...
, and the publisher of the precollege mathematics journal ''Arbelos''.
[ Together with H.S.M. Coxeter in 1967, Greitzer coauthored the well-received textbook ''Geometry Revisited'', which has remained in print for more than 40 years.
]
Biography
Born in the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the 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 the Great Northern War. ...
, Greitzer moved to the United States in 1906, graduated from Stuyvesant High School, received his bachelor's degree in 1927 from City College of New York, and later earned a Ph.D. from Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.["About YU]
on the Yeshiva Universi ...
. He held academic positions at Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.["About YU]
on the Yeshiva Universi ...
, Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute
The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United St ...
, Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, and Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
.[ In the 1970s, he directed a ]National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...
summer program at Rutgers for high-ability high-school math students.
Samuel Greitzer and his wife Ethel had one son. Samuel died on February 22, 1988 in Metuchen, New Jersey
Metuchen ( ) is a suburban borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is a commuter town of New York City, located in the heart of the Raritan Valley region within the New York Metropolitan area. The borough, along wit ...
.
Selected publications
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References
External links
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1905 births
1988 deaths
20th-century American mathematicians
Geometers
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
City College of New York alumni
Yeshiva University alumni
Stuyvesant High School alumni
People from Metuchen, New Jersey
Yeshiva University faculty
Columbia University faculty
Rutgers University faculty
Polytechnic Institute of New York University faculty
Mathematicians from New York (state)
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