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Solomon Lefschetz's Students Aiming for High Standards: Solomon Lefschetz as Editor of the Annals of Mathematics DELLA DUMBAUGH UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND CIRMATH Goals To provide a venue in which European CIRMATH members can intensively interact with historians of mathematics from the Americas working on related historical questions. To provide opportunities for American and European researchers at earlier stages in their careers to develop significant and enduring research collaborations with established scholars in the history of mathematics. Overview How I arrived at this research Intro to Solomon Lefschetz Intro to Annals of Mathematics Link these two strands Concluding comments Solomon Lefschetz (1884-1972) Lefschetz Ditty Here’s to Lefschetz, Solomon L. Irrepressible as hell When he’s at last beneath the sod He’ll then begin to heckle God. (From Saunders Mac Lane: A Mathematical Autobiography) Solomon Lefschetz (1884-1972) Solomon Lefschetz • Born September 3, 1884 in Moscow, Russia • Grew up in Paris • Earned Engineering Degree in 1905 from Ècole Centrale Paris • Moved to US in 1905 • Westinghouse, Pittsburgh, PA • Industrial Accident, 1907, lost hands at the age of 23 • “…soon realized my true path was not engineering but mathematics.” • Earned Ph.D. in mathematics at Clark University (William Story) in 1911 • Alice Hayes “…tower of strength to him for the rest of his life.” Solomon Lefschetz • Born September 3, 1884 in Moscow, Russia • Grew up in Paris • Earned Engineering Degree in 1905 from Ècole Centrale Paris • Moved to US in 1905 • Westinghouse, Pittsburgh, PA • Industrial Accident, 1907, lost hands at the age of 23 • “…soon realized my true path was not engineering but mathematics.” • Earned Ph.D. in mathematics at Clark University (William Story) in 1911 • Alice Hayes “…tower of strength to him for the rest of his life.” University of Nebraska (1911-1913) University of Kansas (1913-1924) “…in complete mathematical calm.” Mathematical Calm The role the almost total isolation of Nebraska and Kansas played in his development “…the mathematical calm of Nebraska-Kansas, which I had so enjoyed without realizing it.” Solomon Lefschetz, Reminiscences of a Mathematical Immigrant, The American Mathematical Monthly, 1970 On teaching: “the experience generally absorbs too much energy.” Europe 1920-1921 Paris Rome “I gained little mathematical profit from it.” Solomon Lefschetz, Reminiscences of a Mathematical Immigrant, The American Mathematical Monthly, 1970 Princeton Lefschetz at Princeton 1924-1925 Visiting Professor (James Alexander and Oswald Veblen) 1925-1928 Associate Professor of Mathematics 1928-1933 Full Professor 1928-1958 Editor of Annals of Mathematics 1930 Topology AMS Colloquium Publications 1933-1953 H. B. Fine Professor (succeeded Oswald Veblen, preceded Emil Artin) 1935-1936 AMS President 1945-1953 Chair of Mathematics Department 1953 “Retired” (“did not mark slackening of his active life”) Lefschetz as Administrator “Lefschetz was a research administrator of the highest order. He was direct, decisive and persuasive. He saw it as his duty to provide the atmosphere, environment, and conditions conducive to the best research.” (William Hodge) Lefschetz as Advisor: Students Paul A. Smith (1926) Edward Begle (1940) Lawrence Rauch (1949) William Flexner (1930) Arthur Stone (1941) John McCarthy (1951) Francis Fuller (1951) Albert Tucker (1932) Dan Christie (1942) George F. D. Duff (1951) Robert Walker (1934) Clifford Truesdell (1944) Donald Bushaw (1952) Norman Steenrod (1936) Richard Bellman (1946) Henry Wallman (1937) Ralph Gomory (1954) Albert Blakers (1947) Shaun Wylie (1937) Courtney Coleman (1955) Stephen Diliberto (1947) James Lillo (1956) Clifford Dowker (1938) Felix Browder (1948) Pincus Mendelson (1956) Ralph Fox (1939) Robert Prim (1949) Santiago Alberto Verjovsky John Tukey (1939) Frank Brownell (1949) Sola (Brown) (1973) Norman Steenrod • Received Ph. D in 1936 • Held positions at the University of Chicago from 1939-1942, and the University of Michigan from 1942-1947. Returned to Princeton in 1947 and remained on the Faculty there. • Obtained Ph.D in two years • Elected to the National Academy of Science in 1956. • Dedicated his co-authored book Foundations of Algebraic Topology to Lefschetz Annals of Mathematics Editor, 1928-1958 The Annals of Mathematics • Joel E. Hendricks founded The Analyst in 1874 and served as its Editor-in-chief • When his health declined, Hendricks made arrangements for The Analyst to move to UVA and Ormond Stone assume editorship in 1884. Became Annals of Mathematics. • Moved to Harvard in 1899 and Princeton in 1911. • In 1933, Princeton and IAS assumed joint editorial responsibility. • A. W. Tucker claims: (1) At this point the journal became more international in authorship; (2) “Annals run with a great deal of favoritism.” • 1950: Expanded from 4 to 6 issues per year. Lefschetz on Annals “I was editor of the Annals of Mathematics, which grew to occupy an A-1 place in mathematics, but did not overwhelm me with work." Solomon Lefschetz, Reminiscences of a Mathematical Immigrant, The American Mathematical Monthly, 1970 Lefschetz as editor of Annals “Lefschetz was an editor of the Annals of Mathematics from 1928- 1958, and his influence dominated the editorial policy that made the Annals into a foremost mathematical journal.” National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir of Solomon Lefschetz, By Phillip Griffiths, Donald Spencer and George Whitehead. Lefschetz as editor of Annals “He employed…drastic methods in his capacity as editor of the Annals of Mathematics. No leniency was shown towards any paper submitted to the journal which was not up to his standards, and anyone who disagreed with his judgement had to work very hard to make him change his mind. But once he decided that a man was worth helping, there was no limit to the aid he would give him. By these methods he made the Annals one of the top mathematical journals in the world, and and he and his colleagues made Princeton a world centre of mathematics.” Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Solomon Lefschetz 1884-1972, by William Hodge Exploring Lefschetz as Editor of Annals 1928-1958 Back to basics: My first research project More contemporary… “Publication, Power, and Patronage: On Inequality and Academic Publishing” Chad Wellmon and Andrew Piper, Critical Inquiry, July, 2017. Entry points Leadership? How many articles? Who were the authors? Europeans? (CIRMATH goal) Favoritism? (Tucker’s claim) Nationalities? Women? African Americans? 1928-1958 Annals Editors Number of Articles Appearing in Annals 100 92 90 80 75 77 69 72 70 67 65 65 65 65 62 64 62 62 63 62 61 61 60 58 57 59 60 55 51 52 44 47 49 47 50 44 40 30 26 20 10 0 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 Lefschetz on Annals (1858 articles) “I was editor of the Annals of Mathematics, which grew to occupy an A-1 place in mathematics, but did not overwhelm me with work." Solomon Lefschetz, Reminiscences of a Mathematical Immigrant, The American Mathematical Monthly, 1970 Who published in the Annals? A veritable “who’s who” in mathematics Jesse Douglas Albert Einstein Luther Phaler Eisenhart C. C. MacDuffee George Birkhoff Hermann Weyl Solomon Lefschetz E. J. McShane Carl Ludwig Siegel Gordon Whyburn Marshall Stone A. W. Tucker Nathan Jacobson Norbert Wiener Paul Erdös A. Adrian Albert Oystein Ore Richard Brauer E. T. Bell Hassler Whitney S. S. Chern H. S. Vandiver Emil Artin Saunders Mac Lane Publications by Lefschetz’s Students in Annals, 1928 – 1958 Publications by Lefschetz’s Students in Annals, 1928 – 1958 14 12 10 8 Note: 69 articles. (~One 6 volume) Lefschetz’s students comprised only 3.7% of total 4 published articles. 2 0 Whispers of Women: Publications by Women in the Annals 1928-1958 Year Author 1928 Laura Guggenbuhl 1928 Caroline Seely 1929 Deborah May Hickey 1930 Caroline Seely 1938 Gertrude S. Ketchum 1938 Emma Lehmer 1943 Florence M. Mears 1947 M. L. Cartwright 1948 M. L. Cartwright 1949 M. L. Cartwright 1949 Hel Braun (IAS 1947-48) 1950 Hel Braun (IAS 1947-48) 1951 Hel Braun (IAS 1947-48) 1951 M. L. Cartwright 1951 Julia Robinson 1951 Joanne Elliott 1951 Yael Naim Dowker 1953 Yael Naim Dowker 1953 Jane Cronin 1955 Yael Naim Dowker Annals of Mathematics; Vol. 43, No. 3, July 1942 Annals of Mathematics; Vol. 43, No. 3, July 1942 African American Authors in the Annals David Blackwell, 3 articles: 1942, 1945, 1951 (with Richard Bellman) ◦ (Blackwell visited IAS in 1941) Jesse Ernest Wilkins, 2 articles: 1944, 1948 ◦ (Wilkins visited IAS in Fall, 1942) CIRMATH goal: Tracing the impact of journals on the circulation of mathematics within the Americas and between the Americas and Europe from 1850 to 1950. (1928-1958 Annals) Papers published in English, French, German Albert Einstein 11 John von Neumann 27 Salomon Bochner 43 Emil Artin 5 Carl Ludwig Siegel 16 (1935-1945) Samuel Eilenberg 20 Using Lefschetz’s tenure at the Annals to trace the impact of journals on the circulation of mathematics between the Americas and China Chinese Authors in Annals 1928-1958 12 11 10 8 8 6 4 2 0 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 Nationalities of Annals Authors, 1949 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 The Publication History of A. Adrian Albert in the Annals 1928-1958 4 3 2 1 0 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1937 1938 1940 1942 1944 1947 1949 1954 1957 1958 51 publications in this time; 33 in Annals (64.7%) Chicago PH.D. 1928, Princeton 1928-1929
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