James Ax graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City and then the Brooklyn Polytechnic University. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1961 under the direction of Gerhard Hochschild, with a dissertation on The Intersection of Norm Groups.
James Ax, a graduate of Stuyvesant High School and Brooklyn Polytechnic University, received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1961 under the supervision of Gerhard Hochschild, with his doctoral dissertation exploring "The Intersection of Norm Groups."