Mathwar/Personlist/Szasz Otto
Otto Szasz
(* December 11th 1884 in Hungary, † December 19th 1952 in Cincinnati)
Life
In 1933 the Nazis came to power in Germany and Szász was forced out of his chair at Frankfurt. It was a period of extraordinary hardship for many mathematicians in Germany, Poland, Hungary and countries around them. Many mathematicians, like Szász, lost their positions. Others suffered far greater hardships; some were sent to concentration camps, many were murdered. However, there was a positive side effect which changed the course of mathematical research in the United States, for many of these top quality European mathematicians went there and, to the country's credit, it did an exceptional job in accepting them and helping them to find positions.
Szász, like many others, left Germany and emigrated to the United States in 1933. His initial position was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His next post was at Brown University and then, in 1936, he was appointed to the Faculty of the University of Cincinnati where he spent the rest of his career. He did make a research visit spending a year at the Institute of Numerical Analysis at the University of California in Los Angeles but he seemed content to devote the rest of his life to teaching, research, and his students in Cincinnati.