Title
A History in Sum : 150 Years of Mathematics at Harvard (1825-1975) / Steve Nadis.
ISBN
9780674726550
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2013]
Copyright
©2013
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (280 p.) : 21 halftones
Item Number
10.4159/harvard.9780674726550 doi
Call Number
QA13.5.M43 H376 2013
Dewey Decimal Classification
510.7117444
Summary
In the twentieth century, American mathematicians began to make critical advances in a field previously dominated by Europeans. Harvard's mathematics department was at the center of these developments. A History in Sum is an inviting account of the pioneers who trailblazed a distinctly American tradition of mathematics--in algebraic geometry, complex analysis, and other esoteric subdisciplines that are rarely written about outside of journal articles or advanced textbooks. The heady mathematical concepts that emerged, and the men and women who shaped them, are described here in lively, accessible prose. The story begins in 1825, when a precocious sixteen-year-old freshman, Benjamin Peirce, arrived at the College. He would become the first American to produce original mathematics--an ambition frowned upon in an era when professors largely limited themselves to teaching. Peirce's successors transformed the math department into a world-class research center, attracting to the faculty such luminaries as George David Birkhoff. Influential figures soon flocked to Harvard, some overcoming great challenges to pursue their elected calling. A History in Sum elucidates the contributions of these extraordinary minds and makes clear why the history of the Harvard mathematics department is an essential part of the history of mathematics in America and beyond.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)
Frontmatter
Contents
Preface
Prologue: The Early Days- A "Colledge" Riseth in the Cowyards
1. Benjamin Peirce and the Science of "Necessary Conclusions"
2 Osgood, Bôcher, and the Great Awakening in American Mathematics
3. The Dynamical Presence of George David Birkhoff
4. Analysis and Algebra Meet Topology: Marston Morse, Hassler Whitney, and Saunders Mac Lane
5. Analysis Most Complex: Lars Ahlfors Gives Function Theory a Geometric Spin
6. The War and Its Aftermath: Andrew Gleason, George Mackey, and an Assignation in Hilbert Space
7. The Europeans: Oscar Zariski, Richard Brauer, and Raoul Bott
Epilogue: Numbers and Beyond
Notes
Index
