Barbara L. Osofsky Explained

Barbara L. Osofsky
Birth Date:	1937
Citizenship:	United States
Fields:	Mathematics
Workplaces:	Rutgers University
Alma Mater:	Rutgers University
Thesis Title:	Homological Properties of Rings and Modules
Thesis Year:	1964
Doctoral Advisor:	Carl Clifton Faith
Known For:	Abstract algebra
Spouse:	Abraham Osofsky
Partners:	)-->
Children:	3

Barbara L. Osofsky (born 1937)^[1] is a retired professor of mathematics at Rutgers University.^[2] Her research concerns abstract algebra. Osofsky's contributions to mathematics include her characterization of semisimple rings in terms of properties of cyclic modules.^{[3] [4]} Osofsky also established a logical equivalence between the continuum hypothesis and statements about the global dimension of associative rings.^{[5] [6]}

Career

Osofsky received her Ph.D. from Rutgers University in 1964. She then worked at Rutgers until 2004, when she retired. She served as acting chair of the Rutgers mathematics department in 1978.^[7]

Awards and honors

In 1973, Osofsky addressed a national meeting of the AMS. She was the first woman in 50 years to do so. She became the first female editor of an AMS journal in 1974 when she became the editor of Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society.^[8]

From 2000 to 2002, Osofsky served as First Vice-President of the Mathematical Association of America.^[9] In 2005, she was awarded the MAA meritorious service award.

In 2012, Osofsky became a fellow of the American Mathematical Society.^[10]

Selected publications

• Osofsky, B. L. A generalization of quasi-Frobenius rings. J. Algebra 4 1966 373–387.
• Osofsky, B. L. Rings all of whose finitely generated modules are injective. Pacific J. Math. 14 1964 645–650.
• Osofsky, Barbara L.; Smith, Patrick F. Cyclic modules whose quotients have all complement submodules direct summands. J. Algebra 139 (1991), no. 2, 342–354.

Notes and References

1. Birth year from German National Library catalog entry, retrieved 2018-11-30.
2. http://www.math.rutgers.edu/~osofsky/ Barbara L. Osofsky
3. B. L. Osofsky, Homological properties of rings and modules (Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University, 1964).
4. T. Y. Lam, Lectures on Modules and RingsGraduate Texts in Mathematics, 189 (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1999), p. 224.
5. B. L. Osofsky, Homological dimension and the continuum hypothesis,Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 132 (1968) 217–230.
6. B. L. Osofsky, Homological dimension and cardinality, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 151 (1970) 641–649.
7. Web site: A History of Mathematics at Rutgers. Charles Weibel. Feb 1, 2015.
8. Peter L. Duren, Richard Askey, Uta C. Merzbach (1989) A Century of Mathematics in America American Mathematical Soc., p. 395
9. Web site: Spring 2005 Newsletter. Rutgers Mathematics Department. Feb 1, 2015.
10. http://www.ams.org/profession/fellows-list List of Fellows of the American Mathematical Society