Alexander Ostrowski

Not to be confused with Alexander Ostrovsky.

Alexander Ostrowski
Born	(1893-09-25)September 25, 1893 Kiev, Russian Empire
Died	November 20, 1986(1986-11-20) (aged 93) Montagnola, Lugano, Switzerland
Scientific career
Doctoral advisor	Edmund Landau Felix Klein
Other academic advisors	Dmitry Grave Kurt Hensel
Doctoral students	Theodore Motzkin Walter Gautschi Stefan E. Warschawski

Alexander Markowich Ostrowski (Russian: Алекса́ндр Ма́ркович Остро́вский; 25 September 1893, Kiev, Russian Empire – 20 November 1986, Montagnola, Lugano, Switzerland) was a mathematician.

His father Mark having been a merchant, Alexander Ostrowski attended the Kiev College of Commerce, not a high school, and thus had an insufficient qualification to be admitted to university. However, his extraordinary talent did not remain undetected: Ostrowski's mentor Grave wrote to Landau and Hensel for help.

Subsequently Ostrowski began to study mathematics at Marburg University under Hensel's supervision in 1912.

After World War I had ended Ostrowski moved on to Göttingen where he wrote his doctoral dissertation and was influenced by Hilbert, Klein and Landau.

In 1920, after having obtained his doctorate, Ostrowski moved to Hamburg where he worked as Hecke's assistant and finished his habilitation in 1922, becoming Professor of Mathematics at Basel.

See also

• Ostrowski's theorem
• Ostrowski–Hadamard gap theorem
• Ostrowski numeration
• Ostrowski Prize

External links

• O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Alexander Ostrowski", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
• Alexander Ostrowski at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
• Gautschi, Walter, Alexander M. Ostrowski (1893-1986): His life, work, and students