Joseph Fels Ritt (August 23, 1893 – January 5, 1951) was an American mathematician at Columbia University in the early 20th century.
He then earned a doctorate in mathematics from Columbia University in 1917 under the supervision of Edward Kasner.
[1][2] He has 905 academic descendants listed in the Mathematics Genealogy Project, mostly through his student Ellis Kolchin, as of May 2024.
[5] Ritt founded differential algebra theory, which was subsequently much developed by him and his student Ellis Kolchin.
Despite his great achievements, he was never awarded any prize for his work, a fact which he resented, as he felt he was underappreciated.