Rafael Artzy (23 July 1912 – 22 August 2006) was an Israeli mathematician specializing in geometry.

Rafael Artzy
Artzy in 1980
Born(1912-07-23)23 July 1912
Died22 August 2006 (2006-08-23) (aged 94)
CitizenshipIsrael
Alma materHebrew University
Known forLinear Geometry
SpouseElly Iwiansky
ChildrenEhud, Michal, Barak
Scientific career
FieldsGeometry
InstitutionsUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Rutgers University
Institute for Advanced Study
State University of New York
Temple University
Doctoral advisorTheodore Motzkin

Education and emigration edit

Artzy was born July 23, 1912, in Königsberg, Germany. His father was Edward I. Deutschlander and his mother Ida Freudenheim. Rafael studied at Königsberg University from 1930 to 1933. He transferred to Hebrew University and obtained a master’s degree in 1934. He married Elly Iwiansky on October 12, 1934. Rafael continued his studies at Hebrew University under Theodore Motzkin, obtaining a Ph.D. in 1945. Elly and Rafael raised three children: Ehud, Michal, and Barak. Ehud and Barak died before their father. Michal Artzy is emeritus professor in Marine Civilization[1] at the University of Haifa.

Rafael served as both teacher and principal of Israel High School from 1934 to 1951. He was an instructor and assistant professor at the Israel Institute of Technology from 1951 to 1956.

American tour edit

Rafael Artzy took up a position as research associate and lecturer at University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1956. That year he also made his first of many contributions to Mathematical Reviews. Artzy became associate professor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1960. The following year Rutgers University made him a full professor. In 1964 he was a visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study.[2] He wrote Linear Geometry (1965) which was favorably reviewed by H. S. M. Coxeter[3] In 1965 Artzy was at State University of New York in Buffalo. In 1967 he joined Temple University where he was for five years.

Return edit

In 1972 Rafael Artzy returned to Israel and participated in mathematics at Technion in Haifa. He helped organize a quadrennial conference on geometry at Haifa. For instance, in March 1979 such a conference was held and the proceedings Geometry and Differential Geometry was edited by Artzy and I. Vaisman and published as Lecture Notes in Mathematics #792. In 1992 he published Geometry. An Algebraic Approach[4] Artzy had made 224 contributions to Mathematical Reviews by his last submission in 1995.

References edit

  1. ^ Professors of Marine Civilization at University of Haifa
  2. ^ Institute for Advanced Study: A Community of Scholars Archived 2013-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ H. S. M. Coxeter (1965) Review of Linear Geometry in Mathematical Reviews
  4. ^ Rafael Artzy (1992) Geometry. An Algebraic Approach, Bibliographisches Institute, ISBN 3-411-15351-2, Review of Geometry by EJF Primrose

External links edit