George Piranian born in Thalwil

Thalwil

Thalwil is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. As of 2010 its population was of 17,189.-History:...

 outside Zürich

Zürich

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, was a Swiss-American

Swiss American

Swiss Americans are Americans of Swiss descent.There are several ethno-linguistic subgroups among Swiss Americans, including Swiss German-speaking, Swiss French-speaking, and Swiss Italian-speaking....

 mathematician of Swiss and Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 descent. Piranian was internationally known for his research in complex analysis, his association with Paul Erdős

Paul Erdos

Paul Erdős was a Hungarian mathematician. Erdős published more papers than any other mathematician in history, working with hundreds of collaborators. He worked on problems in combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, classical analysis, approximation theory, set theory, and probability theory...

, and his editing of the Michigan Mathematical Journal

Michigan Mathematical Journal

Michigan Mathematical Journal is published by the mathematics department atUniversity of Michigan.Its initial editor was George Piranian....

.

Early life

His family moved to Logan, Utah

Logan, Utah

-Layout of the City:Logan's city grid originates from its Main and Center Street block, with Main Street running north and south, and Center east and west. Each block north, east, south, or west of the origin accumulates in additions of 100 , though some streets have non-numeric names...

 (1929) where Piranian received a B.Sc. in agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 and M.Sc. in botany

Botany

Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...

 (1937) at Utah State University

Utah State University

Utah State University is a public university located in Logan, Utah. It is a land-grant and space-grant institution and is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities....

. As a Rhodes scholar, Piranian first "tasted blood" in mathematics at Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

.

After returning to the United States, Piranian earned his Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in mathematics

Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...

 under Szolem Mandelbrojt at Rice University

Rice University

William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

 (1943). Piranian's dissertation was entitled A Study of the Position and Nature of the Singularities of Functions Given by Their Taylor Series.

Piranian joined the faculty at University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 in 1945.

Editing the Michigan Mathematical Journal

In 1952, Piranian, along with Paul Erdős

Paul Erdos

Paul Erdős was a Hungarian mathematician. Erdős published more papers than any other mathematician in history, working with hundreds of collaborators. He worked on problems in combinatorics, graph theory, number theory, classical analysis, approximation theory, set theory, and probability theory...

, Fritz Herzog

Fritz Herzog

Fritz Herzog was an American mathematician, known for his work incomplex analysis and power series.He was born in Germany and studied at the University of Berlin until 1934 when he moved to USA.He received his Ph.D...

 and Arthur J. Lohwater

Arthur J. Lohwater

Arthur John "Jack" Lohwater was an American mathematician.He obtained a Ph.D. in mathematics at University of Rochester , on the dissertation The Boundary Values of a Class of Analytic Functions, advised by Wladimir Seidel.Later he joined the faculty at University of Michigan and Case Western...

, founded the Michigan Mathematical Journal

Michigan Mathematical Journal

Michigan Mathematical Journal is published by the mathematics department atUniversity of Michigan.Its initial editor was George Piranian....

; leadership in editing was assumed by Piranian in 1954.

Piranian's editing was renowned in mathematics.

Teaching

Piranian's teaching captivated several future research mathematicians. Piranian also was an advisor with the Honors Program at the College of Literature, Science and the Arts

University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts is the liberal arts and sciences unit of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Established in 1841 with seven students and two teachers, the college is currently the largest unit at U-M in terms of the number of students...

 at the University of Michigan.

Teaching of Theodore Kaczynski

Piranian at one point taught and advised Theodore Kaczynski

Theodore Kaczynski

Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski , also known as the "Unabomber" , is an American mathematician, social critic, anarcho-primitivist, and Neo-Luddite who engaged in a mail bombing campaign that spanned nearly 20 years, killing three people and injuring 23 others.Kaczynski was born in Chicago, Illinois,...

, then a Ph.D. student in mathematics. Decades later, Kaczynski was convicted of the Unabomber crimes.