Oskar Buenemann was born in Milan in 1913 with German citizenship. He obtained British citizenship in 1944 and changed his name around 1950. Political events made him move from Italy to Germany (1915 WWI) to Manchester (1935, after imprisonment by the Nazis in 1934-35) to Isle of Man and Canada (interned 1940-41) to Manchester (1941-44) and to Berkeley (1944-45, Manhattan Project). After two unattractive jobs he became University Lecturer in Mathematics at Cambridge in 1950 and Prof of Electrical Engineering at Stanford in 1960.

His emigration in 1935 shifted his mathematical interest from pure mathematics at U Hamburg (1932-34, goal: school teacher) to applied mathematics at University of Manchester. He joined Douglas Hartree's magnetron group to develop the British radar in 1941-44. The scientific expertise he obtained in the magnetron group led him to pioneer particle methods and to advance numerical analysis, plasma physics and electrical engineering.
His scientific career was made possible by patronages of various institutions: When he left school as primus omnium, his school awarded him a scholarship for studying mathematics and sciences. After his family lost all income because of the Nazis, U Hamburg waived part of the usual fees. When Oscar and friends were arrested by the Nazis, a lawyer succeeded to remove them from an early concentration camp for a regular trial. Friends and family arranged for him admittance at the Honours School of Mathematics in Manchester, second year. He was the best man of the year and graduated B.Sc. in 1937, first class in the final Honours list. In 1937 he was awarded the Derby Mathematical Scholarship with supplementary grant. M.Sc. in 1938 and a Beyer Fellowship. He was interned 1940-41, while a candidate for a Ph.D. degree. When released, he got job offers in military research. But after 1945 he found it very difficult to find an adequate position. The situation improved when scientific societies elected him: Member of the American Physical Society in 1948, Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society in 1950.