12 Facts About Leon Mirsky

Leonid Mirsky was a Russian-British mathematician who worked in number theory, linear algebra, and combinatorics.

Leon Mirsky studied at Herne Bay High School and King's College, London, graduating in 1940.

Leon Mirsky took a short-term faculty position at Sheffield University in 1942, and then a similar position in Manchester; he returned to Sheffield in 1945, where he would stay for the rest of his career.

Leon Mirsky became a lecturer in 1947, earned a Ph.

In 1953 Leon Mirsky married Aileen Guilding who was, at that time, a lecturer in Biblical History and Literature at Sheffield but later became a professor and Head of Department.

Leon Mirsky retired in September 1983, and died on 1 December 1983.

Leon Mirsky was an editor of the Journal of Linear Algebra and its Applications, the Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, and Mathematical Spectrum.

Leon Mirsky was particularly interested in the r-free numbers, a generalization of the square-free integers consisting of the numbers not divisible by any rth power.

In 1947, Leon Mirsky was asked to teach a course in linear algebra.

Leon Mirsky worked with Hazel Perfect on the spectra of doubly stochastic matrices.

Leon Mirsky derived conditions for pairs of set families to have simultaneous transversals, closely related to later work on network flow problems.

Leon Mirsky was one of the first to recognize the importance of transversal matroids, and he showed that transversal matroids can be represented using linear algebra over transcendental extensions of the rational numbers.