Gerhard Hochschild

Gerhard Paul Hochschild (April 29, 1915 in Berlin – July 8, 2010 in El Cerrito, California) was a German-born American mathematician who worked on Lie groups, algebraic groups, homological algebra and algebraic number theory.

Early life On April 29, 1915, Hochschild was born to a middle-class Jewish family in Berlin, Germany, the son of Lilli and Heinrich Hochschild. Hochschild had an older brother.

Education In 1936, Hochschild earned a BS degree in mathematics from University of Cape Town in Union of South Africa.

Among his students were Andrzej Białynicki-Birula and James Ax.

In 1955, Hochschild was a Guggenheim Fellow. In 1979 Hochschild was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and in 1980 he was awarded the Leroy P. Steele Prize of the AMS.

In 1982, Hochschild retired but continued teaching part-time until 1985. Ruth was born in Germany and fled with her mother in 1939; the couple met at the University of Illinois where she was earning her M.S. in mathematics and Gerhard was working as an assistant professor. Hochschild's children are Ann Hochschild (b. 1955) and Peter Hochschild (b. 1957).

On July 8, 2010, Hochschild died at his home. Hochschild was 95.