Though my Autrian-Hungarian parents wanted my two sisters and myself to pursue careers in the arts, we all entered into the sciences or mathematics.

A student alongside Kurt Godel at the University of Vienna, I studied mathematics under Hans Hahn and Karl Menger.

As a new Ph.D., I was asked by Richard Courant to edit David Hilbert's work in number theory...which I followed up by editing Emil Artin's lectures in class field theory.

As a Jew amid the growing political trouble in Germany and Austria, I moved to the United States to work with Emily Noether at Bryn Mawr.

From there, I held a multitude of teaching and consultant positions (even met the author of this web site while I taught at Cal Tech) and published many exceptional papers in number theory.

I basically was the creator the area known as "linear algebra and applications" through "real and complex matrix theory."