Israel Nathan Herstein (March 28, 1923 – February 9, 1988)[1] was a mathematician, appointed as professor at the University of Chicago in 1951.

He worked on a variety of areas of algebra, including ring theory, with over 100 research papers and over a dozen books.

His family emigrated to Canada in 1926, and he grew up in a harsh and underprivileged environment where, according to him, "you either became a gangster or a college professor.

His primary interest was in noncommutative ring theory, but he also wrote papers on finite groups, linear algebra, and mathematical economics.

His doctoral students include Miriam Cohen, Wallace S. Martindale, Susan Montgomery, Karen Parshall and Claudio Procesi.