Courtesy of Wikipedia
Oscar Zariski (April 24, 1899 – July 4, 1986) was an American mathematician. The Russian-born scientist was one of the most influential algebraic geometers of the 20th century.
Zariski was born Osher (also transliterated as Ascher or Oscher) Zaritsky ( Russian: Ошер Зарицкий) to a Jewish family of Bezalel Zaritsky and Hanna née Tennenbaum in Kobrin, Russian Empire and in 1918 studied at the University of Kiev. He left Kiev in 1920 to study at the University of Rome where he became a disciple of the Italian school of algebraic geometry, studying with Guido Castelnuovo, Federigo Enriques and Francesco Severi.
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