IssaiSchur(January10,1875–January10,1941)wasamathematicianwhoworkedinGermanyformostofhislife.HestudiedatBerlin.Heobtainedhisdoctoratein1901,becamelecturerin1903and,afterastayatBonn,professorin1919. 　　HeconsideredhimselfGermanratherthanJewish,eventhoughhehadbeenbornintheRussianEmpireinwhatisnowBelarus,andbroughtuppartlyinLatvia.ForthisreasonhedeclinedinvitationstoleaveGermanyfortheUnitedStatesandBritainin1934.Neverthelesshewasdismissedfromhischairin1935and,attheinstigationofLudwigBieberbach(whohadpreviouslysympathisedwithSchurregardinghistreatmentatthehandsoftheNazis),hewasforcedtoresignfromthePrussianAcademyin1938.SchureventuallyemigratedtoPalestinein1939,andlivedhisfinalyearsinpoverty.HediedinTelAvivonhis66thbirthday. 　　AsastudentofFrobenius,heworkedongrouprepresentations(thesubjectwithwhichheismostcloselyassociated),butalsoincombinatoricsandnumbertheoryandeventheoreticalphysics.HeisperhapsbestknowntodayforhisresultontheexistenceoftheSchurdecompositionandforhisworkongrouprepresentations(Schur'slemma). 　　Schurhadanumberofstudents,includingRichardBrauer,B.H.Neumann,HeinzPrüfer,andRichardRado.Hislectureswereverypopularwithstudents.[1]HewaselectedtotheAcademyofSciencesoftheUSSRasaforeigncorrespondingmemberin1929. 　　SchurpublishedunderthenameofbothI.Schur,andJ.Schur,thelatterespeciallyinJournalfürdiereineundangewandteMathematik.Thishasledtosomeconfusion.