Zariski, Oscar

Oscar Zariski (24.4.1899-4.7.1986) was born in Kobryn, Poland, and studied at the universities of Kiev and Rome. He held positions at Rome University, John Hopkins University, the University of Illinois and from 1947 at Harvard University.

Zariski's main fields of activity were in algebraic geometry, algebra, algebraic function theory and topology. His most influential results bear on algebraic surfaces, the resolution of singularities and the foundations of algebraic geometry over arbitrary fields.