Alfred Tarski

Alfred Tarski was a Polish-born American logician and mathematician who made significant contributions to many areas of mathematics, including metamathematics, set theory, measure theory, model theory, and general algebra. He also worked on the foundations of logic, the semantic theory of truth, and the philosophy of mathematics. He was educated at the University of Warsaw, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1924 under the supervision of Stanisław Leśniewski. He was a member of the Lwów–Warsaw school of logic and the Warsaw school of mathematics, two influential groups of Polish mathematicians and logicians in the interwar period. He fled to the United States in 1939, after the Nazi invasion of Poland, and became a naturalized citizen in 1945. He taught and conducted research at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1942 until his death in 1983. He supervised many doctoral students and influenced many mathematicians and logicians around the world. He was known for his rigor, clarity, and creativity in his work, as well as his charismatic and humorous personality. He was also an avid skier, swimmer, and tennis player.