Editing Max August Zorn

{{Short description|German mathematician (1906–1993)}}
{{Distinguish|Max Zorn (artist)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Max August Zorn
| image             = Zorn,Max August 1930 Jena.jpg <!--(filename only, i.e. without "File:" prefix)-->
| image_size        = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = Zorn in 1930
| birth_date        = {{birth date |1906|6|6|mf=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Krefeld]], [[Rhine Province|Rhenish Prussia]], Germany
| death_date        = {{death date and age |1993|3|9 |1906|6|6}}
| death_place       = [[Bloomington, Indiana]], U.S.
| fields            = [[Mathematics]]
| workplaces        = [[Indiana University (Bloomington)|Indiana University]]<br />[[University of California, Los Angeles]]
| alma_mater        = [[University of Hamburg]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Emil Artin]] <!--(or  | doctoral_advisors = )-->
| doctoral_students = [[Israel Nathan Herstein]]
| thesis_title      = Theorie Der Alternativen Ringe
| thesis_year       = 1930
| known_for         = [[Zorn ring]]<br/>[[Zorn's lemma]]<br />{{no wrap|[[Split-octonion#Zorn's_vector-matrix_algebra|Zorn's vector-matrix algebra]]s}}<br>[[Artin–Zorn theorem]]
| awards            = 
| spouse            = <!--(or | spouses = )-->
}}

'''Max August Zorn''' ({{IPA|de|tsɔʁn|lang}}; June 6, 1906 – March 9, 1993) was a German [[mathematician]]. He was an [[Abstract Algebra|algebraist]], [[group (mathematics)|group theorist]], and [[numerical analysis|numerical analyst]]. He is best known for [[Zorn's lemma]], a method used in [[set theory]] that is applicable to a wide range of mathematical constructs such as [[vector space]]s, and [[partially ordered set|ordered sets]] amongst others. Zorn's lemma was first postulated by [[Kazimierz Kuratowski]] in 1922, and then independently by Zorn in 1935.

==Life and career==
Zorn was born in [[Krefeld]], [[German Empire|Germany]]. He attended the [[University of Hamburg]]. He received his [[PhD]] in April 1930 for a thesis on [[alternative algebra]]s. He published his findings in ''[[Abhandlungen aus dem Mathematischen Seminar der Universität Hamburg]]''.<ref>M. Zorn (1930) "Theorie der alternativen Ringen", ''[[Abhandlungen aus dem Mathematischen Seminar der Universität Hamburg]]'' 8(2): 123–47</ref><ref>M. Zorn (1931) "Alternativekörper und quadratische Systeme", ''Abhandlungen aus dem mathematischen Seminar der Universität Hamburg'' 9(3/4): 395–402</ref> Zorn showed that [[split-octonion]]s could be represented by a mixed-style of matrices called [[Split-octonion#Zorn.27s vector-matrix algebra|Zorn's vector-matrix algebra]].

Max Zorn was appointed to an assistant position at the [[University of Halle]]. However, he did not have the opportunity to work there for long as he was forced to leave Germany in 1933 because of policies enacted by the [[Nazi]]s. According to grandson Eric, "[Max] spoke with a raspy, airy voice most of his life. Few people knew why, because he only told the story after significant prodding, but he talked that way because pro-Hitler thugs who objected to his politics, had battered his throat in a 1933 street fight."<ref>[[Eric Zorn]] (1993) [http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2005/08/year_three_begi.html A Math Wizard, Hero to His Family] from [[Chicago Tribune]]</ref>

Zorn immigrated to the United States and was appointed a [[Sterling Fellow]] at [[Yale University]]. While at Yale, Zorn wrote his paper "A Remark on Method in Transfinite Algebra"<ref>{{cite journal |first=Max |last=Zorn |title=A remark on method in transfinite algebra |journal=Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society |volume=41 |year=1935 |issue=10 |pages=667–670 |doi=10.1090/S0002-9904-1935-06166-X |doi-access=free }}</ref> that stated his Maximum Principle, later called [[Zorn's lemma]]. It requires a set that contains the union of any [[total order#Chains|chain]] of [[subset]]s to have one chain not contained in any other, called the [[maximal element]]. He illustrated the principle with applications in ring theory and field extensions. Zorn's lemma is an alternative expression of the [[axiom of choice]], and thus a subject of interest in [[axiomatic set theory]].

In 1936 he moved to [[UCLA]] and remained until 1946. While at UCLA Zorn revisited his study of alternative rings and proved the existence of the [[nilradical of a ring|nilradical]] of certain [[alternative ring]]s.<ref>M. Zorn (1941) Alternative rings and related questions I: existence of the radical, [[Annals of Mathematics]] 42: 676–86 {{mr|id=0005098}}</ref> According to [[Angus E. Taylor]], Max was his most stimulating colleague at UCLA.<ref>[[Angus E. Taylor]] (1984) A  Life in Mathematics Remembered, [[American Mathematical Monthly]] 91(10):613.</ref>

In 1946 Zorn became a professor at [[Indiana University (Bloomington)|Indiana University]], where he taught until retiring in 1971. He was thesis advisor for [[Israel Nathan Herstein]].

Zorn died in [[Bloomington, Indiana]], in March 1993, of congestive heart failure.<ref>{{cite news|author=Saxon, Wolfgang|title=Max A. Zorn, 86; Developed a Theory That Changed Math|date=11 March 1993|newspaper=NY Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/11/obituaries/max-a-zorn-86-developed-a-theory-that-changed-math.html}}</ref>

==Family==
Max Zorn married Alice Schlottau and they had one son, Jens, and one daughter, Liz. Jens (born June 19, 1931) is an emeritus professor of physics at the [[University of Michigan]] and an accomplished sculptor. Max Zorn's grandson [[Eric Zorn]] was a columnist for the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' from 1986 until 2021; after retirement Eric Zorn started a newsletter titled ''The Picayune Sentinel,''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ericzorn.substack.com/|title=Eric Zorn: The Picayune Sentinel|first=Eric|last=Zorn|website=ericzorn.substack.com|accessdate=23 December 2022}}</ref> named after the mathematics newsletter that Max Zorn had distributed during his years at Indiana University. Max's great grandson, Alexander Wolken Zorn, received a PhD in mathematics from the [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California Berkeley]] in 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/etd/ucb/text/Zorn_berkeley_0028E_17983.pdf |title=University of California, Berkeley |access-date=2021-06-09 |archive-date=2021-06-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609122841/https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/etd/ucb/text/Zorn_berkeley_0028E_17983.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* Steve Carlson (2009) [http://sections.maa.org/indiana/Newsletters/Fall2009/INMAA_Historian_Article_Fall2009.pdf Max Zorn: World Renowned Mathematician and Member Indiana MAA Section] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510085020/http://sections.maa.org/indiana/Newsletters/Fall2009/INMAA_Historian_Article_Fall2009.pdf |date=2017-05-10 }}, from [[Mathematics Association of America]] .
* Darrell Haile (1993) [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jenszorn/01JCZHomepageAssets/MaxZornAsMathematician1.pdf On Max Zorn's Contributions to Mathematics] (includes John Ewing, "Zorn's Lemma"), from Memorial Conference at Indiana University, June 1993.

==External links==
{{Scholia}}
*{{MacTutor Biography|id=Zorn}}
*{{MathGenealogy|id=19401}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zorn, Max August}}
[[Category:20th-century American mathematicians]]
[[Category:20th-century German mathematicians]]
[[Category:Set theorists]]
[[Category:Algebraists]]
[[Category:Numerical analysts]]
[[Category:Indiana University Bloomington faculty]]
[[Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States]]
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Krefeld]]
[[Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure in the United States]]
[[Category:University of Hamburg alumni]]
[[Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty]]
[[Category:Yale University fellows]]