Shimshon Avraham Amitsur (born Kaplan; he, שמשון אברהם עמיצור; August 26, 1921 – September 5, 1994) was an Israeli
mathematician. He is best known for his work in
ring theory, in particular
PI ring In ring theory, a branch of mathematics, a ring ''R'' is a polynomial identity ring if there is, for some ''N'' > 0, an element ''P'' ≠ 0 of the free algebra, Z, over the ring of integers in ''N'' variables ''X''1, ''X''2, ..., ''X'N'' such ...
s, an area of
abstract algebra.
Biography
Amitsur was born in
Jerusalem and studied at the
Hebrew University under the supervision of
Jacob Levitzki. His studies were repeatedly interrupted, first by
World War II and then by the
1948 Arab–Israeli War
The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
. He received his
M.Sc. degree in 1946, and his
Ph.D. in 1950. Later, for his joint work with Levitzki, he received the first Israel Prize in
Exact Sciences. He worked at the Hebrew University until his retirement in 1989. Amitsur was a visiting scholar at the
Institute for Advanced Study from 1952 to 1954. He was an Invited Speaker at the
ICM in 1970 in Nice. He was a member of the
Israel Academy of Sciences, where he was the Head for Experimental Science Section. He was one of the founding editors of the ''
Israel Journal of Mathematics
'' Israel Journal of Mathematics'' is a peer-reviewed mathematics journal published by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Magnes Press).
Founded in 1963, as a continuation of the ''Bulletin of the Research Council of Israel'' (Section F), the jou ...
'', and the mathematical editor of the
Hebrew Encyclopedia. Amitsur received a number of awards, including the
honorary doctorate from
Ben-Gurion University in 1990. His students included Avinoam Mann,
Amitai Regev,
Eliyahu Rips and
Aner Shalev.
Awards
Amitsur and Jacob Levitzki were each awarded the
Israel Prize
The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor.
History
The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...
in
exact sciences, in 1953, its inaugural year.
See also
*
Amitsur–Levitzki theorem
In algebra, the Amitsur–Levitzki theorem states that the algebra of ''n'' × ''n'' matrices over a commutative ring satisfies a certain identity of degree 2''n''. It was proved by . In particular matrix rings are polynomial ide ...
*
List of Israel Prize recipients
This is a complete list of recipients of the Israel Prize from the inception of the Prize in 1953 through to 2022.
List
For each year, the recipients are, in most instances, listed in the order in which they appear on the official Israel Prize ...
Publications
*
*
*
References
* "Shimshon Avraham Amitsur (1921 — 1994)", by A. Mann, ''Israel Journal of Mathematics'', Vol. 96 (December 1996), ix - xxvii.
*
External links
*
*
Colleagues, students and family sharing personal experiences with Shimshon Amitsur Video recording from the 27th Amitsur Memorial Symposium 2020.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amitsur, Shimshon
Einstein Institute of Mathematics alumni
Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty
Jews in Mandatory Palestine
20th-century Israeli Jews
Israel Prize in exact science recipients
Israel Prize in exact science recipients who were mathematicians
Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities
Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars
20th-century Israeli mathematicians
Algebraists
Linear algebraists
Scientists from Jerusalem
1921 births
1994 deaths