Oscar Zariski (24 April 1899 - 04 July 1986) was a mathematician, and scientist. He was known for Algebraic geometry. He was born Oscher Zaritsky, in Kobrin, Imperial Russia. His father was Bezalel Zaritsky, and his mother was Hannah Zaritsky. When he wrote a topic in Galois theory, he changed his name for professional purposes. His work includes: Zariski's main theorem, Zariski – Riemann surface, Zariski ring, Zariski space, Zariski surface, Zariski tangent space, Zariski's theorem on holomorphic functions, and Zariski topology. He married Yole Cagli, and they had five children. From the late 1970s he suffered from Alzheimer's disease and his health was failing.

Awards and honors:

* Guggenheim fellowship - 1939, 1940
* Cole Prize in Algebra from the American Mathematical Society - 1944
* elected membership with U.S. National Academy of Sciences - 1944
* Elected membership into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences - 1948
* Elected membership into the American Philosophical Society - 1951
* Elected membership into the Brazilian Academy of Sciences - 1958
* Elected membership into the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei - 1958
* National Medal of Science in 1965
* Steele Prize - 1981
* Wolf Prize - 1981
* His papers have been published by MIT Press, in four volumes.

Publications:

* Algebraic surfaces, Classics in mathematics, (2004)[1935]
* Introduction to the problem of minimal models in the theory of algebraic surfaces, (1958)
* An introduction to the theory of algebraic surfaces, (1969) [1958]
* Commutative algebra I (1975) [1958]
* Commutative algebra. Vol. II (1975) [1960]
* The moduli problem for plane branches: American Mathematical Society, (2006) [1973]
* Foundations of algebraic geometry and resolution of singularities, Collected papers Vol. I - (1972)
* Holomorphic functions and linear systems, Mathematicians of Our Time, Collected papers. Vol. II - (1973)
* Topology of curves and surfaces, and special topics in the theory of algebraic varieties, Mathematicians of Our Time, (1978)
* Equisingularity on algebraic varieties, Mathematicians of Our Time, (1979)