July 11, 1908 – December 27, 1992
Doctor of Philosophy, California Institute of Technology, 1933
Doctor of Science honoris causa, Tulane University, 1982
Distinguished Algebraist, co-founder and promoter of the Algebraic Theory of Semigroups, charismatic scholar and captivating teacher, having inspired with his probing mind many generations of Algebraists-students and colleagues alike. He was assistant to Herman Weyl at the Institute for Advanced Study from 1936 to 1938. He taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1938 until 1942. He served his country with distinction in the Second World War, and again during the Korean conflict. He was Associate Professor at John Hopkins University from 1945 to 1954, and then joined Tulane University in 1955 as Professor of Mathematics and Head of Sophie Newcomb College, and thereafter gave to this institution to the fullest as a scholar, as a teacher, and as a benefactor.
