Education
Schönfinkel attended the Novorossiysk University of Odessa, studying mathematics under Samuil Osipovich Shatunovskii (1859–1929), who worked in geometry and the foundations of mathematics.
Schönfinkel attended the Novorossiysk University of Odessa, studying mathematics under Samuil Osipovich Shatunovskii (1859–1929), who worked in geometry and the foundations of mathematics.
On 7 December 1920 he delivered a talk to the group where he outlined the concept of combinatory logic. In 1929, Schönfinkel had one other paper published, on special cases of the decision problem ("Entscheidungsproblem"), that was prepared by Paul Bernays. After he left Göttingen, Schönfinkel returned to Moscow.
By 1927 he was reported to be mentally ill and in a sanatorium.
His later life was spent in poverty, and he died in Moscow some time in 1942. His papers were burned by his neighbors for heating.
From 1914 to 1924, Schönfinkel was a member of David Hilbert"s group at the University of Göttingen. Heinrich Behmann, a member of Hilbert"s group, later revised the text and published it in 1924.