Julian Lowell Coolidge (September 28, 1873 – March 5, 1954) was an American mathematician, historian, a professor and chairman of the Harvard University Mathematics Department.[1]
Julian Coolidge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 28, 1873 Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | March 5, 1954 (aged 80) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Harvard University Oxford University |
| Known for | A Treatise on the Circle and the Sphere |
| Awards |  Legion of Honour – Knight (1919) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | mathematics |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
| Doctoral advisor | Eduard Study |
| Doctoral students | Roger Arthur Johnson |
Biography
editBorn in Brookline, Massachusetts, he graduated from Harvard University[1] and Balliol College, Oxford.[2]
Between 1897 and 1899, Julian Coolidge taught at the Groton School, where one of his students was Franklin D. Roosevelt.[1] He left the private school to accept a teaching position at Harvard and in 1902 was given an assistant professorship, but took two years off to further his education with studies in Turin, Italy[1] before receiving his doctorate from the University of Bonn.[1][3] Julian Coolidge then returned to teach at Harvard where he remained for his entire academic career, interrupted only by a year at the Sorbonne in Paris as an exchange professor.[1]
During World War I, he served with the U.S. Army's Overseas Expeditionary Force in France, rising to the rank of major. In 1919, he was awarded a Knight of France's Legion of Honor.[1]
Coolidge returned to teach at Harvard where he was awarded a full professorship. In 1927 he was appointed chairman of the Mathematics Department at Harvard,[1] a position he held until his retirement in 1940. A Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,[4] Coolidge served as president of the Mathematical Association of America and vice-president of the American Mathematical Society.[1][5] He authored several books on mathematics and on the history of mathematics. He was Master of Lowell House (one of Harvard's undergraduate residences) from 1930 to 1940.[6]
Coolidge died in 1954 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, aged 80.[1]
Writings
edit- J. L. Coolidge (1909) The elements of non-Euclidean geometry, Oxford University Press.
- J. L. Coolidge (1916) A Treatise on the Circle and the Sphere, Oxford University Press.[7]
- J. L. Coolidge (1924) The geometry of the complex domain, The Clarendon Press.
- J. L. Coolidge (1925) An introduction to mathematical probability, Oxford University Press.
- J. L. Coolidge (1931) A Treatise on Algebraic Plane Curves, Oxford University Press (Dover Publications 2004).
- J. L. Coolidge (1940) A history of geometrical methods,[8] Oxford University Press (Dover Publications 2003).
- J. L. Coolidge (1945) History of the conic sections and quadric surfaces, The Clarendon Press.[9]
- J. L. Coolidge (1949) The Mathematics Of Great Amateurs, Oxford University Press (Dover Publications 1963).
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F. "Julian Coolidge". MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
- ^ Balliol College Register, 3rd Edition, p491
- ^ Julian Coolidge at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- ^ "The Early History of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences", Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 24 (4): 3–23, 1971, doi:10.2307/3823172, JSTOR 3823172.
- ^ MAA presidents: Julian Lowell Coolidge
- ^ https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1954/3/6/first-lowell-housemaster-julian-coolidge-dies/
- ^ White, H. S. (1919). "Circle and Sphere Geometry". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 25 (10): 464–467. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1919-03230-3.
- ^ Snyder, Virgil (1941). "Review: J. L. Coolidge, A History of Geometrical Methods". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 47 (1): 20–22. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1941-07368-4.
- ^ Blumenthal, Leonard M. (1947). "Review: J. L. Coolidge, A history of the conic sections and quadrics". Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 53 (1, Part 1): 36. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1947-08730-9.