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Person: Divinsky, Nathan Joseph Harry
Nathan Divinsky was a Canadian algebraist who was also enthusiastic about chess.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Divinsky won the Manitoba Chess Championship in 1946 and was awarded an M.S. from Chicago in 1947 after submitting a thesis Burnside's problem.
- Albert, like Divinsky, had Russian parents, and was one of the leading experts on algebras.
- It is not surprising, therefore, that Divinsky would write a thesis on algebras: he submitted his thesis Power-Associativity and Crossed Extension Algebras to the University of Chicago and was awarded his Ph.D. in 1950.
- In 1959 Divinsky took over the magazine Canadian Chess Chat.
- During the 1950s and 1960s Divinsky published papers on ring theory.
- Divinsky was still playing chess at the highest level at this time and represented Canada in the 1966 Chess Olympiad in Havana.
- One friend, Fritz Bowers, says of Divinsky, "Tuzie's very reactionary and elitist.
- If they want to do that, let them do that but to finance it and to spend the limited energy you have on some idiot Divinsky to get into grade 7 instead of quitting at grade 6 instead of doing something for a kid who has enormous talent and can contribute something to the world ...
- After returning to Canada in 1973, Divinsky then spent a year in Oregon.
- In 1979, in partnership with three others, Divinsky began the reconstruction of the Arrow Transfer warehouse on Granville Island, Vancouver, as the Bridges Restaurant.
- In that same year Divinsky left the Vancouver School Board, which he had served on since 1974 having chairman from 1978 to 1980.
- Although Divinsky continued to publish the occasional mathematics paper during the 1970s and 1980s, he began to apply mathematical techniques to a study of the strength of various chess champions.
- Before this book was published, however, Divinsky had become a celebrity on British television.
- In the early 1980s, Divinsky visited the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and addressed our Pure Mathematics Seminar.
- Divinsky, however, seemed to have frequent contact with Fischer and described his mental state in detail.
Born 29 October 1925, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Died 17 June 2012, Vancouver, Canada View two larger pictures.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin Canada
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
- Github:
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
