Max August Zorn | |
|---|---|
 Zorn in 1930 | |
| Born | June 6, 1906 Krefeld, Rhenish Prussia, Germany |
| Died | March 9, 1993 (aged 86) Bloomington, Indiana, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Hamburg |
| Known for | Zorn ring Zorn's lemma Zorn's vector-matrix algebras Artin–Zorn theorem |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Indiana University University of California, Los Angeles |
| Thesis | Theorie Der Alternativen Ringe (1930) |
| Doctoral advisor | Emil Artin |
| Doctoral students | Israel Nathan Herstein |
Max August Zorn (German: [tsɔʁn]; June 6, 1906 – March 9, 1993) was a German mathematician. He was an algebraist, group theorist, and 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 spaces, and ordered sets amongst others. Zorn's lemma was first postulated by Kazimierz Kuratowski in 1922, and then independently by Zorn in 1935.