The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950

The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950
Author: Karen Hunger Parshall
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 640
Release: 2022-02-22
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0691233810

A meticulously researched history on the development of American mathematics in the three decades following World War I As the Roaring Twenties lurched into the Great Depression, to be followed by the scourge of Nazi Germany and World War II, American mathematicians pursued their research, positioned themselves collectively within American science, and rose to global mathematical hegemony. How did they do it? The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950 explores the institutional, financial, social, and political forces that shaped and supported this community in the first half of the twentieth century. In doing so, Karen Hunger Parshall debunks the widely held view that American mathematics only thrived after European émigrés fled to the shores of the United States. Drawing from extensive archival and primary-source research, Parshall uncovers the key players in American mathematics who worked together to effect change and she looks at their research output over the course of three decades. She highlights the educational, professional, philanthropic, and governmental entities that bolstered progress. And she uncovers the strategies implemented by American mathematicians in their quest for the advancement of knowledge. Throughout, she considers how geopolitical circumstances shifted the course of the discipline. Examining how the American mathematical community asserted itself on the international stage, The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920–1950 shows the way one nation became the focal point for the field.

Mathematicians under the Nazis

Mathematicians under the Nazis
Author: Sanford L. Segal
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 567
Release: 2014-11-23
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1400865387

Contrary to popular belief--and despite the expulsion, emigration, or death of many German mathematicians--substantial mathematics was produced in Germany during 1933-1945. In this landmark social history of the mathematics community in Nazi Germany, Sanford Segal examines how the Nazi years affected the personal and academic lives of those German mathematicians who continued to work in Germany. The effects of the Nazi regime on the lives of mathematicians ranged from limitations on foreign contact to power struggles that rattled entire institutions, from changed work patterns to military draft, deportation, and death. Based on extensive archival research, Mathematicians under the Nazis shows how these mathematicians, variously motivated, reacted to the period's intense political pressures. It details the consequences of their actions on their colleagues and on the practice and organs of German mathematics, including its curricula, institutions, and journals. Throughout, Segal's focus is on the biographies of individuals, including mathematicians who resisted the injection of ideology into their profession, some who worked in concentration camps, and others (such as Ludwig Bieberbach) who used the "Aryanization" of their profession to further their own agendas. Some of the figures are no longer well known; others still tower over the field. All lived lives complicated by Nazi power. Presenting a wealth of previously unavailable information, this book is a large contribution to the history of mathematics--as well as a unique view of what it was like to live and work in Nazi Germany.

The Emergence of the American Mathematical Research Community, 1876-1900

The Emergence of the American Mathematical Research Community, 1876-1900
Author: Karen Hunger Parshall
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
Total Pages: 532
Release: 1994
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9780821809075

Cover -- Title page -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Photograph and Figure Credits -- Chapter 1. An overview of American mathematics: 1776-1876 -- Chapter 2. A new departmental prototype: J.J. Sylvester and the Johns Hopkins University -- Chapter 3. Mathematics at Sylvester's Hopkins -- Chapter 4. German mathematics and the early mathematical career of Felix Klein -- Chapter 5. America's wanderlust generation -- Chapter 6. Changes on the horizon -- Chapter 7. The World's Columbian exposition of 1893 and the Chicago mathematical congress -- Chapter 8. Surveying mathematical landscapes: The Evanston colloquium lectures -- Chapter 9. Meeting the challenge: The University of Chicago and the American mathematical research community -- Chapter 10. Epilogue: Beyond the threshold: The American mathematical research community, 1900-1933 -- Bibliography -- Subject Index -- Back Cover

Women of Science

Women of Science
Author: Gabriele Kass-Simon
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 422
Release: 1993
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780253208132

Women of Science is a collection of essays dealing with contributions women have made to various scientific disciplines, written by women scientists in those disciplines. The areas covered are: astronomy, archaeology, biology, chemistry, crystallography, engineering, geology, mathematics, medicine, and physics. The women who have written these essays are, for the most part, not professional historians, but rather scientific professionals who felt the necessity of researching the contributions women have made to the devlopment of their fields. The essays are unique, not only because they recover lost women who made significant contributions to their disciplines, but also because they are written with a depth of understanding that only a scientist working in a specific area can have. The essays will be of interest not only to students (especially women students) of science who may be unaware of the many contributions women have made, but also to readers of the history of science whoses texts more often than not fail to include the work of most women scientists.

Mathematics Unbound: The Evolution of an International Mathematical Research Community, 1800-1945

Mathematics Unbound: The Evolution of an International Mathematical Research Community, 1800-1945
Author: Karen Hunger Parshall
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2002
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0821821245

Although today's mathematical research community takes its international character very much for granted, this ``global nature'' is relatively recent, having evolved over a period of roughly 150 years-from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century. During this time, the practice of mathematics changed from being centered on a collection of disparate national communities to being characterized by an international group of scholars for whom thegoal of mathematical research and cooperation transcended national boundaries. Yet, the development of an international community was far from smooth and involved obstacles such as war, political upheaval, and national rivalries. Until now, this evolution has been largely overlooked by historians andmathematicians alike. This book addresses the issue by bringing together essays by twenty experts in the history of mathematics who have investigated the genesis of today's international mathematical community. This includes not only developments within component national mathematical communities, such as the growth of societies and journals, but also more wide-ranging political, philosophical, linguistic, and pedagogical issues. The resulting volume is essential reading for anyone interestedin the history of modern mathematics. It will be of interest to mathematicians, historians of mathematics, and historians of science in general.