Henry Blumberg was born on May 13, 1886 in Zhagory, Russia to Bernhard and Yetta (Schochet) Blumberg. He immigrated to the U.S. with his parents in 1891. He attended Columbia University and was awarded an A.B. in 1907, receiving the John Dash Van Buren, Jr. Prize in Mathematics, and an A.M. in 1908.

He then studied at the University of Göttingen where he was awarded a Ph.D. in 1912, writing a thesis entitled "On the algebraic properties of linear homogeneous differential equations" under the direction of Edmund Landau [1]. He then spent another year doing postdoctoral work at the universities of Chicago, Paris and Zurich.

He was then employed as an assistant and later assistant professor at the University of Nebraska 1913-1918. He was then appointed assistant professor at the University of Illinois in 1918, where he remained until 1925.

In 1925 he was appointed professor in the Department of Mathematics at Ohio State. Blumberg was very instrumental in establishing a graduate program in mathematics at OSU. He directed eight Ph.D. students [1] at Ohio State. Among his students was the prominent real analyst Casper Goffman [2].

Blumberg was a very active researcher in the fields of real analysis and point set topology. One of his striking results is the following: for any real-valued function defined over the reals, there is is a dense subset of the domain, such that the restriction of the function to this subset is continuous.

Blumberg was also very active in the U.S. and international mathematics community. He served as an associate editor of the Annals of Mathematics, the American Mathematical Monthly and Zentralblatt für Mathematik. He also served on the Council of the American Mathematical Society.

He died in Columbus on June 28, 1950.

Resolution in Memoriam:

President Bevis now reported to the Board the death of Henry Blumberg, Professor of Mathematics. In accordance with the recommendation of the Board of Trustees, a copy of the resolution expressing, on behalf of the University, the sorrow and sympathy of the Board has been furnished to the family of the deceased.

The Board of Trustees expresses its sorrow at the death of Henry Blumberg. Professor of Mathematics, on June 28, 1950. Professor Blumberg entered the service of The Ohio State University in October 1925, as a professor in mathematics. He had done his undergraduate work at Columbia University and received the Ph.D. degree at Göttingen in 1912. Following his studies abroad, Professor Blumberg taught at the University of Nebraska, 1913-1918, and at the University of Illinois, 1918-1924.

He was prominent in the field of mathematics, having served as an associate editor of both the Annals of Mathematics and the American Mathematical Monthly. He had been a member of the Council of the American Mathematical Society. The researches of Professor Blumberg centered in real variables and point set theory. His many publications in these important branches of mathematics had given him a high professional standing.

Professor Blumberg excelled as a teacher of beginning graduate students. He was able to encourage them to develop resourcefulness and independence, at the same time as he showed them the evolution and beauty of mathematical analysis. The numerous graduate students for whom he served as adviser are devoted to the ideals which he set forth.

On behalf of the entire University, the Board of Trustees expresses to the family its deep sympathy and sense of understanding in its loss. It is directed that this resolution be inscribed upon the minutes of the Board.

The following obituary appeared in the Columbus Dispatch on June 29, 1950:

Blumberg Rites

Service for Henry Blumberg, 64, Ohio State University mathematics professor who died Wednesday at his home, 76 E. Blake Ave., was held Thursday at Snider Funeral Home. Burial was in New Tifereth Israel Cemetery.

Department of Mathematics [2]