Person: Kertész, Andor
Andor Kertész was a Hungarian mathematician who worked in the theory of Abelian groups, modules and rings. He was also interested in the history of mathematics.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Andor Kertész attended elementary and secondary school in Gyula.
- Béla Csákány was ten years old when he entered the Roman Catholic Gymnasium "Karácsonyi János" in Gyula in 1942 and there met, for the first time, Andor who was at that time thirteen years old.
- For us he was, like for many of his later friends and colleagues, "Bandi" Kertész.
- Bandi Kertész organised the activities for the boys of the small college.
- Although his interests were broad, including music, history, philosophy and literature, Kertész chose to make his career in mathematics.
- His scientific career was substantially influenced by Tibor Szele, one of the most outstanding Hungarian mathematicians, whose personality and achievements attracted Kertész' interest in modern algebra.
- Kertész graduated from Kossuth Lajos University in Debrecen in 1952 and continued to undertake research there.
- Kertész was transferred to the University of Szeged in 1953.
- This move did not last long and soon Kertész was back in Debrecen.
- Kertész defended his thesis entitled Operator modules and semi-simple rings in 1954.
- After Szele's untimely death at the age of 36, the supervision of Kertész' dissertation in modern algebra was continued by László Rédei, who was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
- In 1957 Kertész defended his second dissertation (bearing the title On the general theory of operator modules) and was awarded the degree "Doctor of the Mathematical Sciences" (the highest academic degree in Hungary) at a remarkably young age.
- It was a great honour for me that Kurosh invited even me to eat at his home in the evening where Kertész was also invited and, because he was just ending a visit to Moscow, also the Kiev group theorist Lev Arkad'evich Kaluznin.
- Kertész' professional career was significantly shaped by two visiting professorships at the Martin Luther University Halle, East Germany, between 1962-1964 and 1968-1971.
- There Kertész established a research group for modern algebra which met international standards and attracted numerous disciples who later became renowned scholars at different universities throughout the world.
- Kertész made great efforts to pay tribute to the achievements of Georg Cantor and, during his stay in Halle in 1968, he took part in the 50th anniversary celebrations of Georg Cantor's death.
- After Kertész' death it was Manfred Stern, first a student of Kertész' in Halle and later followed him to Debrecen, who finished his manuscript on Cantor which appeared in 1983 under the title Georg Cantor 1845-1918, Schöpfer der Mengenlehre Ⓣ(Georg Cantor 1845-1918, creator of set theory).
- Let us quote just one example in order to illustrate how deeply his students were influenced by Kertész' personal and scholarly impact.
- A Kertész and A Widiger, Artinsche Ringe mit artinschem Radikal, J.
Born 19 February 1929, Gyula, Hungary. Died 3 April 1974, Budapest, Hungary.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Group Theory, Origin Hungary
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
