Benjamin Abram Bernstein (20 May 1881,

Pasvalys Pasvalys () is a town in Panevėžys County, Lithuania, located near the bank of the Svalia River. History In 1557, the Treaty of Pasvalys was signed in the town, which provoked Ivan IV of Russia to start the Livonian War. Pasvalys has mineral ...

, Lithuania – 25 September 1964,

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

) was an American mathematician, specializing in

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal ...

.Benjamin Abram Bernstein, University of California: In Memoriam, April 1965
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Biography

With his Jewish family, Bernstein immigrated as a child to the United States. After completing public primary education in 1897 in Baltimore, he completed in 1902 his secondary education at

Baltimore City College Baltimore City College, known colloquially as City, City College, and B.C.C., is a college preparatory school with a liberal arts focus and selective school, selective admissions criteria located in Baltimore, Maryland. Opened in October 1839, B ...

, and then received in 1905 his A.B. degree from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

. After completing two years of graduate study at Johns Hopkins University, he became in 1907 an instructor and continuing graduate student in mathematics at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. There he received in 1913, with supervisor Mellen W. Haskell, his Ph.D. At Berkeley, Bernstein became in 1918 an assistant professor, in 1923 an associate professor, and in 1928 a full professor of mathematics, retiring in 1951 as professor emeritus. He was an Invited Speaker at the

ICM ICM may refer to: Organizations * Irish Church Missions * Institut du cerveau et de la moelle épinière, a research center * Interdisciplinary Centre for Mathematical and Computational Modelling, University of Warsaw * International Confederatio ...

in 1924 in Toronto. He was elected in 1931 a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsi ...

. His doctoral students include Robert LevitRobert Levit Obituary, San Francisco Chronicle, 30 May 2010
/ref> and

J.C.C. McKinsey John Charles Chenoweth McKinsey (30 April 1908 – 26 October 1953), usually cited as J. C. C. McKinsey, was an American mathematician known for his work on mathematical logic and game theory.Jo Davidson Jo Davidson (March 30, 1883 – January 2, 1952) was an American sculptor. Although he specialized in realistic, intense portrait busts, Davidson did not require his subjects to formally pose for him; rather, he observed and spoke with them. ...

. Bernstein was predeceased by his wife and upon his death was survived by a daughter and a granddaughter.

Selected publications

*with A. O. Leuschner: * * * * ** Errata for 1924 Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. vol. 26, pages 171–175: published Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 27 (1925) 600. * * *
"On the Serial Relations in Boolean Algebras"
''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' 32(5) 523,4 1926 * * *with Nemo Debely: * * * * * * * * * * *with

Alfred L. Foster Alfred Leon Foster (1904-1994) was an American mathematician. He was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley from 1934 until 1971. In 1932 he was an Invited Speaker at the ICM in Zürich. In 1934 he accepted a regular position at ...

: * *

References

External links

Guide to the Benjamin Abram Bernstein papers, 1901–1963, Online Archive of California
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstein, Benjamin Abram 1881 births 1964 deaths Mathematical logicians 20th-century American mathematicians Baltimore City College alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States