Bôcher, Osgood, and the Ascendance of American Mathematics at Harvard
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Bôcher, Osgood, and the
Ascendance of American
Mathematics at Harvard
Steve Batterson
T
he year 1888 is notable to members Bôcher, W. F. Osgood, Leonard Dickson, and G. D.
of the American Mathematical Society Birkhoff were internationally respected mathema-
(AMS) for the founding of their organi- ticians. Graduate programs at Chicago, Harvard,
zation under the name The New York and Princeton offered European-level training
Mathematical Society. In this same year that had been unavailable in the United States
Maxime Bôcher received his A.B. in mathematics when Bôcher completed his undergraduate stud-
from Harvard. The university also awarded Bôcher ies a quarter century earlier. The advancement on
a fellowship that enabled him to travel to Göttin- American campuses began in the early 1890s.
gen for graduate study. At the time, knowledge- Most significant was the opening of the Univer-
able American mathematics students with means sity of Chicago in 1892. Under the leadership of
went to Germany to pursue a Ph.D. Opportuni- E. H. Moore, Chicago recruited European emigrés
ties for course work and thesis direction in the to implement a high-level mathematics curriculum
United States were vastly inferior. The country’s [2]. A steady stream of talented American students
only significant mathematical scholars were the thrived in the scholarly environment. Moore’s Ph.D.
nonacademically employed George William Hill, students Dickson (1896), Oswald Veblen (1903),
the part-time professor Simon Newcomb, and and Birkhoff (1907) would each go on to deliver
the reclusive scientist J. Willard Gibbs. Over the plenary addresses to the International Congress
1890–1894 interval just two American universities of Mathematicians.
would confer more than two mathematics Ph.D.’s Compare the Chicago ascendance with contem-
[1], and neither of these programs was on a favor- poraneous developments at Harvard [4], [5], [2].
able trajectory. Johns Hopkins was in a decline After obtaining their Ph.D.’s in Germany, Osgood
that had begun with the recent departure of J. J. and Bôcher became Harvard instructors in 1890
Sylvester. Clark University, after a promising first and 1891 respectively. None of their departmental
three years, underwent devastating turmoil and colleagues were engaged in mathematical research.
lost many of its best staff [2], [3]. Together Bôcher and Osgood steadily changed the
Yet by 1913 the American mathematical brand culture, publishing their scholarly work and invigo-
was appreciated in Europe. E. H. Moore, Maxime rating the graduate program. Birkhoff joined the
Harvard faculty in 1912 and then discovered his
Steve Batterson is associate professor of mathematics and
computer science at Emory University. His email address
famous proof of Poincaré’s Geometric Theorem.
is sb@mathcs.emory.edu. With Bôcher, Osgood, and Birkhoff, Harvard was
the strongest department in the United States.
The author is grateful to Don Sarason and Raghavan
Narasimhan for clarifying historical points and to Michele Given the 1890 state of American mathematics,
Benzi and Albert Lewis for suggestions on the manuscript. the rise of Harvard was remarkable, even if over-
Unpublished material is quoted courtesy of the Harvard shadowed by the more rapid advances at Chicago.
University Archives; MIT Archives; Library of Congress; This article traces these developments, focusing on
and Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, the vital roles of Bôcher, Osgood, and the Harvard
Göttingen. traveling fellowships.
916 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 56, NUMBER 8
Mathematics at Harvard Prior to 1880 the superior continental
In 1636 Harvard became the first college to be mathematics to students
established in the North American British colo- in the United States. In
nies. To fulfill its mission of providing the educa- 1824 Harvard juniors
tional essentials to prospective Puritan ministers, began studying Farrar’s
the curriculum featured Latin, Greek, Hebrew, adaptation of Bezout’s
rhetoric, and philosophy. The small presence of calculus [7].
mathematics was restricted to some arithmetic The following year
and geometry in the final year. During Harvard’s a brilliant sixteen-year-
first century mathematics was often taught by old freshman enrolled
minimally trained instructors who held the title at Harvard. Benjamin
of tutor [6], [7]. Peirce had already re-
The year 1727 marked the endowment of the ceived mathematical
Hollis Professorship of Mathematics and Natural training from Nathaniel
Philosophy. The first holder was Isaac Greenwood. Bowditch, whose son,
Greenwood, being knowledgeable in Newton, sub- Ingersoll, was Peirce’s
stantially elevated the Harvard faculty’s level of classmate at the Salem
scientific competence. Unfortunately his tenure Grammar School. Peirce
ended prematurely when he was dismissed over supplemented his Har-
repeated incidents of drunkenness. Greenwood’s vard studies by assist- Maxime Bôcher.
successor was his former student John Winthrop. ing Bowditch with the
Serving from 1738 to 1779, Winthrop covered Laplace translation. In
the broad span of mathematics and the physical addition, Peirce was an
sciences. Harvard historian Samuel Morison char- avid reader of The Math-
acterized Winthrop as “the first important scien- ematical Diary, solving
tist or productive scholar in the teaching staff of problems posed in this
Harvard College” [6, page 92]. Winthrop took the early American journal
then-novel initiative of setting up an experimental [8].
physics laboratory. His lectures included the topic Peirce completed his
of electricity. Winthrop’s astronomical observa- A.B. in 1829. Despite
tions of the solar system earned him membership his ample mathematical
in the Royal Society. gifts, Peirce’s opportu-
When the nineteenth century began, no Ameri- nities for further study
can professors were doing mathematical research. were severely limited;
At both Harvard and Yale, scholarship in the Ph.D. programs did not
subject meant the production of textbooks. By then exist in the United
this time mathematics was front loaded into the States. Over the prior
Harvard curriculum. Tutors handled arithmetic decade several Harvard
and geometry in the freshman year. Subsequent students had returned to
topics included algebra, logarithms, trigonometry, campus from advanced
surveying, and spherical geometry. work at Göttingen and
W. F. Osgood.
In 1806 the Hollis chair was offered to Nathaniel other European institu-
Bowditch, the author of an important handbook tions [6]. Their presence offered evidence and
on navigation. Possessing only a rudimentary for- testimony to the benefits of study abroad. Yet
mal education, the self-taught Bowditch was an Peirce remained in Massachusetts to teach at a
interesting choice. Following a maritime career, prep school. His biographer speculates that recent
he had entered the insurance business, all the family financial reversals forced Peirce to forgo
time studying mathematics on his own. Bowditch European study and begin earning an income [8,
turned down the professorship but became an page 52].
influential member of the Harvard Corporation, Peirce taught at the prep school for just two
which governed the university. Meanwhile, he took years. Then a mathematics tutorship opened up
on the ambitious project of translating and elu- for him when Farrar’s health began to fail. The
cidating Laplace’s multivolume work on celestial 1831 Harvard appointment of Peirce was the be-
mechanics. Its successful completion was arguably ginning of an historic tenure for American science.
the most impressive American mathematical ac- Within months he submitted an original theorem
complishment up to that time. for publication in The Mathematical Diary. It was
In place of Bowditch, the Hollis chair was filled known that if 2n+1 − 1 is prime, then (2n+1 − 1)2n
by John Farrar. Farrar was a charismatic lecturer. is perfect. Peirce proved that if a perfect number
His contribution to American mathematics was M does not have the above form, then M must
to translate French textbooks and introduce have at least four distinct prime factors [9]. Later,
SEPTEMBER 2009 NOTICES OF THE AMS 917
a posthumously published paper of Euler showed scholarly prominence placed the Lazzaroni in a po-
that any even perfect number has the form stipu- sition to promote national science initiatives. Out
lated above. Thus Peirce’s result established that of their efforts came the creation of the American
any odd perfect number has at least four distinct Association for the Advancement of Science and
prime factors. the National Academy of Sciences.
It is unclear whether the Harvard administration Peirce himself continued to do research in
had any appreciation for this worthy demonstra- astronomy and mathematics. His astronomical
tion of mathematical scholarship. Shortly after- work gained him admission to the Royal Society.
ward, however, President Josiah Quincy steered However, Peirce’s magnum opus, Linear Associa-
Peirce in a more traditional direction, the writing tive Algebra, was in mathematics. Along the way
of textbooks. Peirce sought a clarification of pri- he held key positions with two important govern-
orities. He asked whether the Harvard Corpora- ment scientific agencies, The Coast Survey and The
tion wanted him to “undertake a Nautical Almanac.
task that must engross so much Peirce remained at Harvard until his death in
time and is so elementary in its 1880. As a teacher Peirce was generally depicted as
nature and so unworthy of one incomprehensible to ordinary students. Two of the
that aspires to anything higher in more complimentary assessments were made in re-
science” [8, page 69]. Advised that flections from former pupils who each rose to the
it did, Peirce would publish seven presidency of the university. They portray Peirce
textbooks over the next ten years as an inspirational, if opaque, lecturer. A perhaps
and no further papers in number more balanced view was given by a member of
theory. the next generation of the Harvard mathematics
Harvard apparently was satis- faculty, Julian Coolidge: “His great mathematical
fied with Peirce’s performance. As talent and originality of thought, combined with
Farrar’s health continued to dete- a total inability to put anything clearly, produced
among his contemporaries a feeling of awe that
Benjamin Peirce, ca. 1859. riorate, Peirce took on increasing
responsibility. In 1833 Peirce was amounted almost to dread” [4]. Through his gov-
promoted to professor of mathematics and natural ernment work and his half century at a leading
philosophy. Nine years later he became the first university, Peirce exerted an influence on the most
Perkins Professor of Astronomy and Mathematics. promising younger American mathematicians,
Astronomy was the discipline of Peirce’s first including his son C. S. Peirce, Simon Newcomb,
international notoriety. In 1846 the planet Neptune George William Hill, and William Story [8]. In terms
was discovered by an innovative technique. Nep- of both accomplishment and impact, Peirce was the
tune was spotted after its location was predicted outstanding American mathematician of his time.
from inferences about perturbations to the orbit Graduate education was one area where Peirce
of Uranus. The mathematical calculations had been missed an opportunity to advance his country. In
performed independently by John Couch Adams of 1860 Yale became the first American university
England and Urbain Le Verrier of France. A great to offer a Ph.D. Harvard was slow to embrace the
deal of fascination accompanied the identification higher degree, reluctantly establishing its gradu-
of a planet by means other than direct observation. ate school in 1872 [6]. The first Harvard Ph.D. was
Peirce closely followed these events and did his awarded to William Byerly in mathematics the
own calculations. He found aspects of Neptune’s following year. He was the only student to earn a
orbit that called into question Le Verrier’s original Ph.D. under Peirce’s direction.
prediction. When Peirce characterized the planet’s
discovery as a “happy accident”, it did not sit well Mathematics at Harvard and Elsewhere in
with Le Verrier [8]. the 1880s
In the ensuing dispute, Peirce was up against Peirce’s death in 1880 left a void in mathematical
more than an eminent astronomer. Their countries research at Harvard. Surviving him in the depart-
represented the scientifically undeveloped and ment were his son James Mills Peirce and former
elite respectively. That Peirce held his own gave Ph.D. student William Byerly. In 1881 a distant rela-
standing to both the scholar and his country. The tive, mathematical physicist Benjamin O. Peirce,
latter was important to him. joined the faculty. As undergraduates all three had
About this time Peirce became part of a small taken courses from the elder Benjamin Peirce. Each
fraternity of scientists, known as the Lazzaroni, was an effective teacher and wrote textbooks for
whose objective was to elevate American science Harvard students [5]. B. O. Peirce published experi-
while enjoying each other’s company. The core mental physics papers both earlier and later in his
of the group also included Smithsonian visionary career. The state of mathematical scholarship at
Joseph Henry, Harvard professor of zoology and Harvard in the 1880s, however, had reverted back
geology Louis Agassiz, and Coast Survey Superin- to that at the beginning of the century. No one was
tendent Alexander Dallas Bache. Their individual proving new theorems.
918 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 56, NUMBER 8
Meanwhile other Harvard departments were teaching staff. Unfortunately the Clark venture flourishing. A new age began in 1869 with the was undercapitalized and a victim of competing installation of Charles Eliot as president. Eliot visions. By its third year the university was roiled had a vision for Harvard as a modern university. by acrimony among the founder, president, and Moreover, he possessed the skills to implement faculty. Bolza, White, and several colleagues moved his plans. By the midpoint of his forty-year tenure, on to other opportunities. research was issuing from virtually every Harvard department except mathematics [6, page 378]. Study Abroad and the Harvard Fellowships Beyond Harvard the only post-Peirce American American students in the mid-1880s needed to scholars utilizing substantial mathematics were look across the Atlantic Ocean for advanced math- J. Willard Gibbs, George William Hill, and Simon ematical training. Several found Newcomb. Gibbs was professor of mathematical their way to Germany into the class- physics at Yale. His groundbreaking theoretical room of Felix Klein. These fortunate work in chemistry and physics was hailed in Eu- placements were hardly random. rope by James Clerk Maxwell and Wilhelm Ostwald. The students came from Princeton, Appreciation for Gibbs’s ideas in his own country Wesleyan, and especially Harvard, was limited by a lack of scientific understanding. where there was knowledge of the The temperamentally withdrawn Gibbs rarely left opportunities abroad. New Haven, working in quiet isolation and seeing In prior years Harvard graduates few students. had occasionally sailed to Europe Hill and Newcomb were acclaimed for their re- for graduate study. Benjamin Gould search in celestial mechanics. Both held positions arrived in 1845 after taking sev- at the Nautical Almanac Office. Pure mathemati- eral courses as an undergraduate cal research was then absent from United States from Benjamin Peirce. Gould studied campuses, with the following exception. The Johns under Carl Friederich Gauss and J. Willard Gibbs Hopkins University opened in 1876 under a two- earned his Ph.D. in astronomy from fold mission of research and graduate education. Göttingen. Returning to the United With no Americans suited to lead such a math- States, he became an influential ematics program, J. J. Sylvester was imported from astronomer and member of the England [2]. On Peirce’s recommendation, Harvard Lazzaroni. tutor William Story was chosen to be second in The Harvard class of 1871 in- command. Story had completed a Ph.D. in Leipzig cluded two future mathematicians following his undergraduate work at Harvard. who pursued different educational The graduate program at Johns Hopkins of- paths. William Byerly remained at fered mathematical opportunities not previously Harvard, where the graduate pro- available in America. Sylvester produced quality gram was begun a few months later. research and inspired students to follow his lead. Byerly received his Ph.D. in 1873. Story taught courses in geometry. Together they Meanwhile, his classmate William began The American Journal of Mathematics, the Story was in Berlin and Leipzig con- first significant mathematics periodical based in tinuing his study of mathematics George William Hill the United States. and physics. Story returned to the Late in 1883 Sylvester returned to England to United States early in 1874 without assume Oxford’s Savilian chair. Succeeding him an advanced degree [3]. at Hopkins was Simon Newcomb. Primarily an as- Graduate study in Germany posed tronomer, Newcomb was serving as the superinten- many challenges. Young Americans dent of the Nautical Almanac Office in Washington. needed a variety of assets to suc- Newcomb continued in this position, commuting ceed. Language facility, mathemati- to Hopkins two days a week to conduct classes cal background, and maturity were in astronomy. It was not enough to make up for essential prerequisites for profiting the loss of Sylvester [2]. Once again, there was no from the lectures. Moreover, no Eu- United States university providing mathematical ropean study was feasible unless the training approaching what was available in Europe. student possessed the wherewithal The next notable American educational event to pay for the voyage and for sub- occurred in 1889 with the founding of Clark sistence over an extended period. In University. Story left Hopkins to lead the new 1873 Harvard began a remarkable Simon Newcomb mathematics department [3]. Joining him was the program that eased this burden for German emigré Oskar Bolza, who had recently ob- Story and many others. tained his Ph.D. under Felix Klein at Göttingen. The At this time, income from a $50,000 bequest following year another Klein student, the American by the Boston merchant John Parker Jr. became Henry White, provided an additional boost to the available for Harvard graduates to continue their SEPTEMBER 2009 NOTICES OF THE AMS 919
studies at home or abroad. In his will Parker stated, Study, gave Fine considerable help on a substitute
“My design is to establish a fund for the highest problem [2]. After one year Fine had his Ph.D. to
possible education and advancement of one or take back to Princeton.
more of those minds of great intellectual power, Cole also returned to his home university in
having a special adaptation to some particular 1885. There he continued his thesis research while
science, which occasionally arise in society, and proselytizing Klein’s mathematics in courses at
whose possessors, whether strictly Harvard and lectures at MIT. Cole worked hard on
poor or not, are not blessed with his thesis problem but was completely isolated
pecuniary means adequate to effect- from anyone who might help him. Discouraged by
ing the high state of improvement his lack of progress, Cole wrote Klein after a year
and advance in science for which that he didn’t believe “that I will finish it during
they seem to be destined by nature” my lifetime using my present method” [11]. Never-
[10]. The term science was inter- theless, Cole had done enough to obtain his Ph.D.
preted broadly, as the first Parker from Harvard.
Fellow studied modern languages Cole’s Harvard teaching career lasted just two
in Europe. Story and a philosophy years. Overwork caused a breakdown that forced
student were selected for the re- him to withdraw from a tutorship. He resumed his
maining $1,000 annual fellowships, academic career elsewhere after a therapeutic year
which, with satisfactory progress, of outdoor railroad work. As a promoter, however,
were renewable for two additional Cole’s impact was striking. Klein, who had moved
Felix Klein years. The arrangements meant that
to Göttingen, suddenly experienced a surge of
in any given year zero to three new students from the United States, particularly the
fellowships opened. Boston area. His 1887 pupils included Harry Tyler
Story needed just one year to of MIT, both Mellen Haskell and William Osgood
complete his Ph.D. at Leipzig. He on Harvard traveling fellowships, Henry Thompson
then returned to Harvard as a tutor from Princeton, and Henry White from Wesleyan.
prior to joining Sylvester for the The following year another Harvard traveling fel-
opening of Johns Hopkins. The low, Maxime Bôcher, arrived.
Parker Fellowships were extremely
attractive to Harvard’s best stu- Osgood and Bôcher
dents. These so-called “traveling Osgood and Bôcher would earn their Ph.D.’s in
fellowships” often funded a crucial Germany and then return to Harvard. Over their ca-
transitional period from student to reers they would establish similar impressive vitae,
faculty careers. In 1877 B. O. Peirce differing most notably with the latter’s premature
succeeded among eighteen appli- death in 1918 [12]. Both were born in Boston: Max-
Frank Nelson Cole cants for the two available Parker ime Bôcher on August 27, 1867, and William Fogg
Fellowships. Peirce obtained a phys- Osgood three and one half years earlier.
ics Ph.D. at Leipzig, gained valuable postdoctoral Bôcher grew up in a scholarly, international
experience in Helmholtz’s Berlin laboratory, and household. The ancestry of his mother, Caroline,
soon thereafter was appointed to the Harvard went back to the Plymouth Colony. Maxime’s fa-
faculty. ther, Ferdinand, was born in New York during a
Frank Nelson Cole was awarded a Parker Fellow- business trip of Maxime’s grandfather from France.
ship after graduating second in the class of 1882. Ferdinand Bôcher became a Harvard French pro-
Cole studied at Harvard for an additional year fessor. He was among the early hires of President
and then went to Leipzig, where he first attended Eliot, coming from MIT, where the two had been
courses in physics. During the summer of 1884 colleagues. Ferdinand Bôcher revered Eliot, per-
Cole enrolled in a mathematics class of Felix Klein haps accounting in part for his son’s devotion to
on elliptic functions. Klein, then in his mid-thirties, the university and its president.
was one of the most highly regarded mathemati- Osgood was also descended from early resi-
cians in Europe. He had recently been offered dents of Massachusetts. He came to Harvard as an
the chair to succeed Sylvester at Johns Hopkins. undergraduate in 1882. Excelling in mathematics,
Although the Baltimore negotiations had broken physics, and Latin, Osgood graduated second in
down, Klein remained intrigued by the prospects his class four years later. He remained at Harvard
for science in the United States [2]. for an A.M. Then, inspired by classes from Cole,
Joining Cole in Klein’s course was Henry Fine Osgood applied for a traveling fellowship to study
of Princeton. Both Americans received thesis prob- under Klein at Göttingen.
lems from Klein. With just American university By this time Parker Fellowship stipends had
preparation, Cole and Fine found the research to be been reduced to $700, but there were four of
extremely difficult. Their struggles resulted in dif- these grants in the rotation. Another traveling fel-
ferent outcomes. A junior faculty member, Eduard lowship, the Harris, from a smaller endowment,
920 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 56, NUMBER 8
carried a $500 award under similar conditions. In sität”. He has unfortunately not the
1887 one Parker and the Harris were vacated. The reputation, and presumably not nearly
new Parker went to a law student who would later the ability of his junior Prof. Klein, and
become a professor at the University of Chicago his classes are not large.
and a judge on the United States Court of Appeals.
Osgood got the Harris. In his second year Osgood Wednesday I attended the initial lecture
was upgraded to the Parker, making the Harris of a course on the “higher plane curves”
available again in 1888. by Dr. Schoenflies—a Privat Docent—.
Bôcher had just turned sixteen when he began It was almost beyond description, but
his undergraduate work at Harvard in 1883. It is I’ll try. Dr. S. is a good-looking busi-
unclear why it took him five years to complete his ness like young man (30–35 perhaps)
A.B. During the regime of President Eliot, Harvard with dark hair and full beard. He talks
students had substantial freedom to select elective very rapidly and somewhat indistinctly,
courses. Bôcher took advantage of this opportunity though otherwise clear and very in-
in his senior year to fashion a diverse program teresting. But he marched back and
that consisted of mathematics, Roman art, music, forth along the small platform, falling
and an advanced course in geology [13]. He was off 3–4 times in his apparent excite-
awarded highest honors in mathematics for A ment, leaned against the desk or the
thesis on three systems of parabolic coordinates black board, squinted up his eyes and
and a second prize for the meteorological essay wrinkled his nose, then dashed at the
he entered in Harvard’s long-standing Bowdoin black board talking steadily with his
Prize competition. back towards us…
With Osgood’s promotion to a Parker Fellow-
ship, only one other Parker was available in 1888. Not till Thursday did I hear and see the
This went to future Nobel chemistry laureate great Klein (so to speak) whose fame as
Theodore Richards for postdoctoral work in Ger- the greatest mathematical teacher in
many. Bôcher was awarded the Harris Fellowship. Germany (consequently in the world)
He arrived in Göttingen September 1888, one year has attracted me to Göttingen. He is a
after Tyler, Osgood, and White. tall slender man of about 40, his hair
The impression made by the Göttingen faculty is light brown, his eyes blue, keen and
on an American student was conveyed in a letter alert; the strength of his face lies chiefly
from Tyler to his parents following his first week in his large nose and high forehead.
of classes: He speaks rather quickly and with
a somewhat high voice, but clearly
After some 16 students are assembled,
enough, and methodically, enunciating
the door opens hastily, the Prof. enters,
frequently statements to be taken down
there is a slight scraping and stump-
verbatim. He lays much stress upon the
ing—to assure him we’re glad he’s
notes taken, and has one student write
no later—he deposits his tall hat and
up the lectures which after his own
cane, and within 5 seconds of his ap-
revision are put in the reading room
pearance with no other preface than
for general reference. His subject was
a hurried “meine Herren” he is in the
Potential—a subject of mathematical
midst of his lecture. It should not be
physics, in which I have no interest.
inferred that he is a hasty instructor.
In spite of my first disinclination, I
Too much the contrary; he is one of the
am gradually concluding to take this
slowest men I ever heard lecture. This
course—4 lectures a week—partly for
however later—My first impressions
the sake of the Mathematics involved,
are that he is a large, stout dignified,
mainly to hear the man [14].
fine-looking gentleman perhaps 55
years old, with full slightly gray beard A significant feature of the traveling fellow-
and gold spectacles. In the next place ships was their renewability. Unlike Osgood and
he spoke with admirable distinctness, Bôcher, who could expect three years of study
and I am agreeably surprised to find abroad, Tyler was bound by a two-year leave from
myself understanding almost every his faculty position at MIT. The extra year could
word—though it is very difficult at the be decisive in completing the requirements for a
same time to follow the lecture and to Ph.D. Further compounding the time limitations
take notes either in English, German, or was Klein’s course scheduling. In the fall of 1887
a mixture of the two…Please remember Klein’s advanced offering was the second term of
that the gentleman just introduced a course on hyperelliptic functions. Lacking the
is Prof. Schwarz, senior professor of prerequisites Tyler, Osgood, and White took the
Mathematics in “der hiesigen Univer- intermediate-level potential theory.
SEPTEMBER 2009 NOTICES OF THE AMS 921
Not until their second semester, when Klein analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the
started a sequence on Abelian functions, could people and venues.
the three Americans begin the sort of instruction
I think in the first place that it’s much
which had drawn them to Göttingen. Two other
better for you or anyone else who has
Americans and one or two Germans were also
3 years abroad not to spend the whole
enrolled. Osgood received an unwelcome surprise
time in Göttingen unless for reasons
on the first day of class. He was asked by Klein to
of great importance…I have much ad-
serve as the course scribe. The duties included sub-
miration for Klein personally, I know
stantial revisions and rewriting. Up to this point
of nobody who can approach him as a
Osgood had not been taking careful notes. While he
lecturer…He’s certainly acute, fertile in
dreaded assuming the new responsibility, he could
resource, not only understands other
not say no to Klein. After two lectures Osgood was
people, but makes them understand
overwhelmed and prevailed upon
him, and seems to me to have a very
the more clerically oriented Tyler to
firm grasp of the philosophical rela-
take over the duties.
tions and bearings of different sub-
The revision process gave Tyler jects, as well as great versatility and
more interaction with Klein than he acquaintance with literature.
would have otherwise had. Occa-
sionally they discussed future plans. But quite in keeping with some of these
While Tyler had come to Göttingen good qualities are drawbacks that seem
with some hopes of obtaining his to me somewhat serious. So busy a man
Ph.D., he had doubted whether the can not and will not give a student a
degree was possible under his two- very large share of his time and atten-
year constraint. To make the most tion; so too he will not study out or
of his time abroad, Tyler intended to
interest himself especially in the pains-
Harry Tyler study for a semester in some other taking elaboration of details, preferring
German city and another in Paris. As
to scatter all sorts of seed continually
the first year drew to a close, Klein began encour-
and let other people follow after to do
aging Tyler to remain at Göttingen for his Ph.D.
the hoeing…it would seem ridiculous
Tyler went back and forth over where to spend
to claim—what he certainly would not
his second year. At the last moment, with Klein’s
claim for himself—that he does not
approval, Tyler moved to Erlangen. The particular
sacrifice completeness of detail, and
attraction of Erlangen were its two strong math-
that this is not a real sacrifice…
ematicians, Paul Gordan and Max Noether, and
few students. Tyler’s plan was to continue work
Still anyone coming here from Klein
on a thesis problem from Klein while receiving
would be sure to look at mathematical
individual instruction from Gordan and Noether.
things from a new standpoint and as
Both Gordan and Noether were generous with
matters are now would be practically
their time, offering personal attention that was
certain of a degree of interest and
not available in Göttingen. Tyler was especially
attention about out of the question
drawn to Gordan, who, rather than discussing the
in Göttingen, and especially valuable
problem from Klein, set Tyler to work on resul-
when one is beginning original work. I
tants. Then, as Tyler wrote Osgood, “A month or
have been and am still embarrassed by
six weeks later he told me to my unbounded sur-
the opportunities. I might have gained a
prise he would accept this as a Ph.D dissertation
great deal from Noether had I not been
if I chose” [15]. The plans for Paris were scrapped.
so occupied with Gordan. In the present
Tyler spent the remainder of the second year in
semester Noether will probably have
Erlangen, writing up his thesis and preparing for
but one student besides myself and will
the required supplementary topics in physics and
probably give us anything we like…The
chemistry. After two years in Germany, Tyler re-
chief advantage in being here in general
turned to MIT with his Ph.D.
depends upon cultivating personal
Tyler remained in touch with Osgood and White, relations with Gordan and Noether. I
with whom he had become close during their wouldn’t advise anybody to come for
classes together. Back at Göttingen Klein was fin- the lectures alone. Both men are so
ishing a three-term sequence on Abelian functions. peculiar and so irreconcilable that the
In the fall of 1889 he would begin a program in p.r. must be cultivated with some tact
mathematical physics. Osgood sought advice from especially if one tries to divide his at-
Tyler over whether to remain in Göttingen for a tention about equally…G. is outspoken,
third year. Tyler’s nine-page response, excerpted irascible, exasperating, violent; N. is
below, was both thoughtful and incisive, carefully taciturn, serious, equable, patient…
922 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 56, NUMBER 8
If G. is absolutely unrestrained N. is having no great results to report. He delayed writ-
quite the contrary; but it’s restraint not ing for fear that Klein might attribute the lack of
constraint. He may forbear from saying progress to laziness. These emotions are vividly
disagreeable things, but he doesn’t go displayed, along with the 1891 Harvard teaching
out of his way to say the other kind.… load, in this New Year’s letter.
Dear Professor,
Now as to your plans, I would advise
you unhesitatingly to come here if you
want detailed work in pure mathemat- I apologize that you have not heard
ics. If you want to work especially with from me. The main reason for my
Gordan I wouldn’t suggest any prepa- silence is my work. I wanted to have
ration unless the first volume of his something to write about, and I did
book. If you had anything underway not want you to think that I abandoned
very likely it would not interest him. the research entirely. Since the end of
For Noether on the other hand I think September I have been very busy with
it would be worth while to have some- my lectures. I have to give lectures 12
thing to propose—in Abelian Functions hours each week. Half of that time I
if you like or in any of his subjects that devote to little foxes [Füchsen] to whom
you know from the Annalen as well as I I teach elementary algebra. Of course I
could tell you. I wouldn’t advise you to do not have to do much preparation for
come unless you feel sure your tastes this, therefore I have more time. The
will lie in these directions. I do not see students have to write assignments on
the least reason to doubt your being a daily basis, which I have to correct. In
able to make the Ph.D. in two semesters addition I teach a second 3 hour lecture
here, or even one if necessary [16]. on analytical geometry. Here I discuss
primarily the projective geometry of
Osgood followed the second branch. He went the two dimensional plane, mostly
to Erlangen for his third year, bringing a problem through homogeneous coordinates,
from Klein on Abelian functions. One year later he etc., but partly through pure geomet-
had an Erlangen Ph.D. under Noether. For the fall ric methods. This lecture gives me a
of 1890 Osgood returned to Harvard with the title
lot of pleasure although the audience
of instructor of mathematics.
could be better. Finally I lecture for 3
Bôcher remained in Göttingen his entire 1888–
hours on Lamé’s functions, the linear
1891 period abroad. The lectures on mathematical
development of the potential theory,
physics, begun by Klein in 1889, suited Bôcher
etc. Here I have two listeners. I would
nicely. In his second year Bôcher took up a sub-
be happy with the numbers, also with
stantial piece of Klein’s program.
the individuals but they do not find the
Potential functions for many partial differential
time to work on the project as one of
equation problems in mathematical physics could
them gives elementary lectures at the
be obtained by series methods after employing an
Polytechnic in Boston [MIT] and the
orthogonal change of coordinates and separation
other has to do much work at the phys-
of the new variables. Bôcher had dabbled with a few
ics laboratory. Therefore it is almost
of these coordinate systems in his undergraduate
impossible to go into details in this lec-
thesis. Now he sought to develop series solutions
under general cyclidic coordinate transformations. ture. The penta-spherical coordinates,
The ordinary differential equation and other issues for example, have to be left out entirely.
that arose from the technique required difficult
analysis. Klein arranged for a prize to be awarded Up to the Christmas break I have had
for a general development of this theory. Bôcher’s practically no time for my own re-
success earned him the prize and his Ph.D. search. But I have managed to improve
In 1891 Bôcher returned to Harvard. Like Os- on some small points…
good, who arrived one year earlier, he was an
instructor of mathematics with a German bride. Over the Christmas holidays I did fur-
ther research on the Bessel functions.
Mathematics at Harvard 1890–1913 I used the time when I did not have to
Bôcher immediately experienced the conflict be- do work for the university. I did the
tween a desire to continue his research and the research in preparation for the defini-
overwhelming teaching obligations of a beginning tive formula of those parts to be given
instructor. As with new Ph.D.’s throughout time, for the prize for the composition that
this led to another dilemma. Bôcher wanted to stay dealt with the degenerate cases, etc. I
in touch with his advisor but was embarrassed by am happier with this formula and hope
SEPTEMBER 2009 NOTICES OF THE AMS 923
to send you the printed results of these indicated that the chances were good for promo-
functions in the spring. tion to assistant professor in two years. Bôcher
declined the offer from Chicago [19].
As you can see it is impossible to finish Moore subsequently hired Oskar Bolza and
the definitive reduction of the equa- Heinrich Maschke, German mathematicians who
tion of the potential theory during this had studied with Felix Klein. The results were
winter. As far as next summer goes, I almost magical. Moore immediately blossomed
would like to visit Goettingen; this is into an important mathematician. He teamed
for a number of reasons. I think you with Bolza and Maschke to give Chicago the first
agree with me that it is better I stay here American graduate program offering training com-
at the university and work at my own parable to what was available in Europe [2]. Over
pace on the research. I will have three the next fifteen years Dickson, Veblen, and Birk-
months; in that time I can work, with- hoff received their Ph.D.’s, going on to become the
out interruptions, and can complete the next generation of American mathematical leaders.
work if I remain in good health. After Progress at Harvard was more gradual but sus-
that I can come to Göttingen. tained over a longer period. As a preface to these
developments, consider the following retrospec-
The situation is such that one can do tive analysis given by Bôcher in 1912:
little research, in particular in the first
When Chicago was founded, Osgood
few years of employment. You have to
believe me that in the last few months and I were just beginning as young
I have tried to do as much work as pos- instructors, with far slighter math-
sible [17]. ematical equipments than it is easy to
imagine now. I remember, during my
Osgood, a second-year instructor, was in a simi- first year of teaching, learning what
lar position to Bôcher. Both were earning $1,250 uniform convergence of series means.
on one-year contracts. If all went well, they could For several years after that we were
expect annual renewals to serve as instructors for the only persons here who in any way
three years and then be promoted represented modern mathematics or re-
to an assistant professorship on search. Many students of mathematics
a five-year term. As Bôcher and never took our courses at all, and those
Osgood were adjusting to their cir- who did usually gave us only a small
cumstances at Harvard, a significant share of their time. These conditions
development was taking place for changed only very slowly, whereas in
mathematics in the United States. Chicago the department was organized
Staffing was under way for the open- from the start on a thoroughly modern
ing of the University of Chicago in scientific basis [20].
the fall.
Chicago’s president, William Bôcher was hoping to expand his thesis into a
Rainey Harper, was working with book. During the 1892 spring break he got to work
Rockefeller funding to establish a in earnest on the project, maintaining his momen-
new university model emphasizing tum through the remainder of the semester. By
E. H. Moore research and graduate education. the middle of the summer he was able to report
Still, in 1892, no American math- substantial progress to Klein. Over the next two
ematician possessed the credentials to lead such years Bôcher obtained deep new results that went
a venture. Harper elected to take a chance on E. H. beyond his thesis. The book was written in German
Moore to be professor and acting head of math- and published in Leipzig. Klein was sufficiently
ematics. Moore had received his Ph.D. at Yale under impressed to provide the preface and to upgrade
Hubert Newton in 1885 [2], [18]. Newton had then his Bôcher correspondence salutation from Doctor
lent Moore the money for a year of postdoctoral to Colleague. A byproduct of the publication, as it
study in Berlin. Over the following six years Moore circulated among European mathematicians, was
had held lower-level positions at Yale and North- to demonstrate that strong scholarship existed in
western while publishing four papers. the United States.
Moore’s first task was to recruit a junior faculty Advancing through the ranks on schedule,
member to work with him in realizing Harper’s ide- Bôcher and Osgood became assistant professors
als. The offer of an associate professorship went to after three years. They did their part to modernize
Bôcher as he was approaching the end of his second the Harvard graduate offerings (for details see [5])
semester at Harvard. The teaching load was to be but continued to share teaching duties with Byerly
ten hours and the salary $2,500, twice what he was and the Peirces. Bôcher’s first Ph.D. student, James
making at Harvard. Bôcher discussed the offer with Glover, came from Michigan in 1892, where he had
President Eliot, who made no commitments but studied with Cole.
924 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 56, NUMBER 8
The stories of two students who were awarded the Transactions. For the emerging American math-
graduate fellowships in 1894 illustrates the chal- ematical community the new journal was a source
lenges faced by the Harvard mathematics depart- of pride as well as a vehicle for demonstrating its
ment in establishing its doctoral program. Leonard bona fides. Americans submitted their strongest
Dickson rescinded his acceptance when an offer work. The most definitive statement was made by
arrived from Chicago. Charles Bouton came to Osgood with a seminal result in the third issue of
Harvard, obtained his A.M., and then went to the initial 1900 volume. He gave the first rigor-
Leipzig as a Parker Fellow to study with Sophus ous proof of the Riemann Mapping Theorem for
Lie. Harvard was attracting notice but was not yet arbitrary simply connected regions in the plane.
a destination school. In eliminating restrictions on the boundary, an
Nevertheless, Bôcher and Osgood were gaining American achieved the crowning position on a
stature in the nascent American mathematical provenance that featured some of the greatest
community. In 1896 the AMS decided to experi- mathematicians of the nineteenth century.
ment with colloquium lectures. Bôcher and James Meanwhile, around the turn of the century, the
Pierpont were each selected to deliver a series of Harvard mathematics department was bolstered
talks following the summer meeting in Buffalo. The by the hiring of Bouton, Julian Coolidge, and Ed-
thirteen attendees adjudged the experiment to be ward Huntington (see [5]). Each was an alumnus
a success, and colloquium lectures became part who received his Ph.D. in Europe. More and better
of the program every two or three years. Osgood students were getting their doctorates at Harvard,
was chosen for the second offering. Then, as today, mostly under Bôcher. Yet the mathematics faculty
designation as a colloquium speaker was regarded continued to encourage their best students to go to
as a prestigious mathematical recognition. Europe for thesis work. Unlike at other universities,
One factor in Bôcher’s selection must have been the traveling fellowships opened study-abroad op-
that he was a lucid lecturer. The topic he chose portunities to students of all financial means. One
for his colloquium series was Linear differential side effect of this marvelous resource was that the
equations and their applications. Motivated by the list of Harvard Ph.D.’s was less impressive than it
inadequate treatment of existence and unique- otherwise would have been. E. R. Hedrick began
ness theorems in contemporary texts, Bôcher graduate study in 1897 and then two years later,
gave a comprehensive theoretical development like Bouton, was awarded a Parker Fellowship.
for second-order equations. He began with the Hedrick studied with David Hilbert for his Ph.D. at
case when the coefficients are analytic and then Göttingen. He then returned to the United States,
weakened the hypothesis to merely continuous. where he became a leading figure in the AMS and
A careful uniqueness argument accompanied the at UCLA.
presentation. With the foundation established he That Harvard was closing the gap with Chicago
then went into applications and dependence of the can be seen from their competition in the graduate
solutions on parameters, issues that arose in his recruitment of G. D. Birkhoff. Birkhoff had entered
own work on potential theory. Chicago in 1902 as an advanced undergraduate. He
Bôcher was a superb analyst with a broad com- quickly came under the influence of E. H. Moore,
mand of mathematics. Quite a bit of his research who recognized a student of considerable poten-
involved aspects of linear differential equations. tial. Surprisingly, Birkhoff transferred to Harvard
Representative of the work was a 1900 paper treat- in 1903. It is unclear why Birkhoff left Chicago
ing regular singular points in substantial general- after only sampling its scholarly resources, espe-
ity. He considered points a where the coefficient cially with Moore anxious to supervise him in re-
functions have an isolated discontinuity that sat- search. The choice of Harvard is easily understood
isfies a weaker condition than becoming analytic from the high esteem in which Moore held Bôcher
when multiplied by (x − a ) to the appropriate and Osgood, but why did Birkhoff leave Chicago
power. For example, Bôcher only required that the prematurely? Some notion of the reason possibly
coefficient of the linear term in a second-order may be inferred from a summer letter by Moore of-
c
equation be expressed in the form x−a + p (x), fering Birkhoff advice on preparing for Cambridge.
where |p| has an improper integral that converges The first item was “to take much enough exercise
on a neighborhood of a. Without analyticity of p this summer to come back to work in perfect trim in
the standard Frobenius Method is not applicable. the autumn” [21] (emphasis included). After mak-
Bôcher obtained solutions around a by using the ing some mathematical suggestions on a book and
method of successive approximations to develop problem, Moore closed with the admonishment:
a series with terms consisting of a power function “Don’t forget no. 1: the rich red blood I want you
times a continuous function. to have for next year.”
The regular singular points article appeared In his two years at Harvard, Birkhoff took
in the first issue of the Transactions of the AMS. courses from Bôcher and Osgood while obtaining
Bôcher was one of several younger AMS members A.B. and A.M. degrees. Early in 1905 Birkhoff con-
who had provided the impetus for the creation of templated whether to remain at Harvard or return
SEPTEMBER 2009 NOTICES OF THE AMS 925to Chicago for his Ph.D. Both institutions offered Jackson completed his Ph.D. in 1911 and re-
graduate fellowships. Moore advised Birkhoff (and turned to Harvard as an instructor. His position
his father) that “except for two considerations” he was a new line that came about as a result of
should come to Chicago, where “we have a more curricular changes that increased mathematics
catholic attitude towards mathematics in general enrollments at Harvard. Jackson was not the first
than they have at Harvard” [22]. One choice, but he was one of the three nominations
of the exceptions was if he were put forward by the department. The others were
already engaged in an important Max Mason of Wisconsin and G. D. Birkhoff.
research project that could best be Bôcher had had his eye on Birkhoff since he
prosecuted at Harvard. The second left Harvard for Chicago. The two had maintained
was to receive a guarantee that he a correspondence on various mathematical mat-
would be awarded a traveling fel- ters. Their communication continued as Birkhoff
lowship after remaining at Harvard held junior-level appointments at Wisconsin and
for another year or two. Bôcher, who Princeton. As a journal editor Bôcher came to rely
was also impressed by Birkhoff, on Birkhoff’s taste and judgment. Meanwhile Birk-
tended to be less assertive with stu- hoff’s theorems attracted offers from a number
dents, leaving it to them to choose of institutions, including Princeton, which had
their own path. Birkhoff decided to begun its own mathematical ascendance a few
return to Chicago and work with years earlier. At the end of 1910 Harvard offered
G. D. Birkhoff Moore for his Ph.D.
Birkhoff an assistant professorship at a salary of
Birkhoff had situated himself $2,500. Princeton countered with a promotion to
well. Over the first decade of the full professor at $3,500. The Harvard terms called
twentieth century, Bôcher, Osgood, for two 5-year contracts as an assistant professor,
and Moore were the foremost pure the salary for the second at $3,000. This was the
mathematicians in the United standard procedure at Harvard, where Bôcher and
States. During this period each was Osgood had each served as assistant professors
inducted into the National Academy for ten years.
of Sciences and served a two-year Birkhoff attempted to leverage better terms
term as president of the AMS. The from Harvard through a less than sympathetic
Chicago graduate program peaked Bôcher [23]. Harvard’s only concession was a short-
about the time of Birkhoff’s Ph.D. ening of the first assistant professor term from
in 1907. Maschke died the following five to three years, meaning that his Harvard salary
year, and then Bolza returned to in eight years would be $500 less than what was
Germany. The homegrown Dickson immediately available at Princeton. After Birkhoff
and Gilbert Bliss were able replace- declined, Jackson was then hired to fill the new
Griffith Evans
ments on the Chicago faculty, but position at Harvard.
Harvard began to turn out superior Over the following year Birkhoff came to regret
students. his decision. He wrote Bôcher hinting at a desire
The first outstanding mathema- for a renewed offer. Bôcher replied that another
tician to complete a Harvard Ph.D. position might become available but that Birkhoff
was Griffith Evans. Bôcher super- would have to guarantee his unconditional accep-
vised his 1910 thesis on integral tance in advance of further efforts on his behalf
equations. Evans then received a [24]. Birkhoff promised to accept the assistant
traveling fellowship to do post- professorship of the previous offer, with only the
doctoral work with Vito Volterra modification of reducing the first contract from
in Rome. Returning to the United three years to two. The deal was completed and
States, Evans led the build-up of the Birkhoff came to Harvard in 1912.
mathematics departments at Rice The addition of Birkhoff was the most signifi-
and Berkeley. cant development for Harvard mathematics since
Although Evans remained at Har- the hiring of Osgood and Bôcher just over two
vard for the entirety of his under- decades earlier. During the intervening period both
graduate and graduate education, Harvard and American mathematics had made im-
Dunham Jackson pressive advances. While the German and French
other gifted students still took their
Ph.D.’s in Europe. Dunham Jackson schools were still superior, American scholarship,
entered Harvard one year after Evans. Jackson especially at Harvard, was becoming appreciated
obtained a Harvard A.M. in 1909 and then went to in Europe. Both Osgood and Bôcher were invited to
Göttingen on a traveling fellowship. Bôcher was deliver plenary addresses to the 1912 International
instrumental in connecting Jackson with Edmund Congress of Mathematicians in England. By the end
Landau, under whom Jackson wrote an important of 1912 Birkhoff had proved Poincaré’s Geomet-
thesis in approximation theory. ric Theorem, the proof of which appeared in the
926 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 56, NUMBER 8January 1913 issue of the Transactions. According AMS Archives; Benjamin Peirce: Harvard University
to Richard Courant, Birkhoff’s result was the first Archives, call # HUP Peirce, Benjamin (4); J. Willard
piece of American mathematics to be admired by Gibbs: Yale University Manuscripts & Archives;
the Göttingen community [25]. Felix Klein: copyright Göttingen State and Uni-
The French mathematician Émile Borel invited versity Library; Frank Nelson Cole: David Eugene
Bôcher to serve as an exchange professor at the Smith Collection, Rare Book and Manuscript Li-
University of Paris for 1913–14. Osgood was rec- brary, Columbia University; Harry Tyler: courtesy
ognized throughout Europe. His 1897 work on of the MIT Museum; Griffith Evans: courtesy
term-by-term integration for series of continu- Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice
ous functions was influential in Henri Lebesgue’s University; Dunham Jackson: courtesy Mathemati-
development of integration theory [26]. Osgood’s cal Association of America 2009.
book Funktionentheorie was the leading primer on
the subject both at home and abroad. In 1913 the References
Norwegian algebraist Ludwig Sylow expressed his [1] R. G. D. Richardson, The Ph.D. degree and math-
high regard for the work of two Americans, Osgood ematical research, American Mathematical Monthly
and Leonard Dickson [27]. 43 (1936), 199–215.
Birkhoff exerted an immediate impact on the [2] Karen Hunger Parshall and David E. Rowe, The
Harvard graduate program. Marston Morse en- Emergence of the American Mathematical Research
tered Harvard in 1914 and wrote his doctoral dis- Community: J. J. Sylvester, Felix Klein, and E. H. Moore,
HMATH, Vol. 8, American Mathematical Society and
sertation under Birkhoff. Birkhoff’s presence was
London Mathematical Society, 1994.
especially timely as Bôcher’s health began to fail.
[3] Roger Cooke and V. Frederick Rickey, W. E. Story
The passing of the baton symbolically occurred of Hopkins and Clark, in A Century of Mathematics in
through Joseph Walsh, who began his thesis with America, Part III, by William Duren, Amer. Math. Soc.,
Bôcher and after his death in 1918 finished with 1989, 29–76.
Birkhoff. Over his first fifteen years at Harvard, [4] Julian Coolidge, Mathematics 1870–1928, in De-
Birkhoff supervised twenty-six Ph.D.’s, including velopment of Harvard University 1869–1929, by
that of Marshall Stone. During this period Birkhoff Samuel Eliot Morison, Harvard University Press, 1930,
became regarded as the leading mathematician in 248–257.
the United States. Osgood, who was never active in [5] Garrett Birkhoff, Mathematics at Harvard, 1836–
thesis direction, remained an important presence 1944, in A Century of Mathematics in America, Part
at Harvard. Unfortunately his distinguished career II, by William Duren, Amer. Math. Soc., 1989, 3–58.
[6] Samuel Eliot Morison, Three Centuries of Harvard,
was marred by a personal matter late in life. Os-
1636–1936, Harvard University Press, 1936.
good was ostracized by his colleagues and forced
[7] Florian Cajori, The Teaching and History of Math-
to retire in 1933 as a result of his relationship with ematics in the United States, Government Printing
the former wife of Marston Morse [28] and [29]. Office, 1890.
Morse had joined the department in 1926. [8] Edward Hogan, Of the Human Heart. A Biography
The 1913 Harvard mathematics faculty with of Benjamin Peirce, Lehigh University Press, 2008.
Bôcher, Osgood, Birkhoff, and Jackson was the [9] Benjamin Peirce, On perfect numbers, The Math-
strongest that had ever been assembled in the ematical Diary 2 (1832), 267–277.
United States. While the lopsided concentration in [10] Annual Report of the President of Harvard University
analysis has been noted, its effects were mitigated to the Overseers on the state of the university for the
by several factors. Both Bôcher and Birkhoff were academic year 1872–1873. Appendix II.
especially broad in their knowledge of mathemat- [11] Klein Nachlass 8, letter, Cole to Klein (5/26/1886),
Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek,
ics. Moreover, Coolidge and Huntington added
Göttingen (translation from German by Margrit Nash).
coverage to other areas. Finally, at a time when
[12] Raymond Archibald, A Semicentennial History of
as many as four research mathematicians could the American Mathematical Society, 1888–1938, Amer.
be found on only a few university faculties, math- Math. Soc., 1938.
ematical diversity was a different consideration [13] William Osgood, The life and services of Maxime
than in more modern times. Bôcher, Bulletin of the AMS 25 (1919), 337–350.
A remarkable transformation occurred in the [14] Harry Walter Tyler Papers, MC 91, microfilm reel,
Harvard mathematics department from 1890 to letter, Tyler to his parents (10/30/1887), Institute
1913. Together, Bôcher and Osgood successfully Archives and Special Collections, MIT Libraries.
installed research as the primary mission. Jackson [15] Osgood Nachlass 4, letter, Tyler to Osgood
would leave for Minnesota in 1919, but Birkhoff (2/20/1889), Niedersächsische Staats- und Univer-
was firmly entrenched as the department’s anchor. sitätsbibliothek, Göttingen.
[16] Osgood Nachlass 4, letter, Tyler to Osgood
Harvard was on course to be a world mathematical
(4/28/1889), Niedersächsische Staats- und Univer-
power of the twentieth century.
sitätsbibliothek, Göttingen.
Photo credits [17] Klein Nachlass 8, letter, Bôcher to Klein (1/3/1892),
G. D. Birkhoff, Maxime Bôcher, George William Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek,
Hill, E. H. Moore, Simon Newcomb, W. F. Osgood: Göttingen (translation from German by Margrit Nash).
SEPTEMBER 2009 NOTICES OF THE AMS 927You can also read
