Well-known people who majored in math (other than mathematicians)
Steve Buyske
Some time ago on this group there was a discussion of well-known
people who had some kind of math background but weren't known as
mathematicians. I've had most of the names from that discussion posted
on more door, and now I'm hoping to add some more. I'm especially
interested in adding some women to the list.
So the question is, do you know of any well-known people who
majored in math but aren't known as mathematicians?
Steve Buyske
buy...@lafcol.lafayette.edu
buy...@lafvax.lafayette.edu
Here's my list::
Corazon Aquino, former President of the Phillipines.
Harry Blackmun, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, AB in
Mathematics at Harvard around 1940.
Pierre Boulez, composer.
Clifford Brown, 50's jazz trumpeter.
Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking
Glass, and other works.
David Dinkins, mayor of New York.
Milton Glasser, head of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Edmund Husserl, philosopher.
Michael Jordan (into his junior year).
John Maynard Keynes, economist. BA in Mathematics, Cambridge .
Ommar Khayyam, author of The Robaiyat.
Evelyn Fox Keller, social theorist.
Emanuel Lasker, chess player.
Tom Lehrer, songwriter-parodist. Ph.D. in Math. at Harvard
Huey Lewis (of Huey Lewis and the News).
J. Pierpont Morgan, the billionaire banker He had enough talent that
the Harvard math faculty tried to convince him to become a
professional mathematician.
Paul Painlev, President of France in the early 20th century.
David Robinson, basketball star. B.S. in math, Annapolis.
Frank Ryan, former professional football player and current science-
technology adviser to Congress. Ph.D. in Math.
Stephen Sondheim, songwriter.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, novelist, degree in math and physics from the
University of Rostov.
Laurence H. Tribe, Professor at Harvard Law School, generally regarded
as one of the most outstanding authorities on Constitutional Law.
Both an AB and an MA in Math from Harvard circa 1962.
Leon Trotsky He registered to read Pure Mathematics at Odessa in 1897,
but imprisonment and exile in Siberia seem to have disturbed his
concentration.
Eamon de Valera, first President of the Republic of Ireland.
Professor of Mathematics at Our Lady of Mercy, Carysfort,
Blackrock, Ireland.
Virginia Wade, Wimbledon champion, Math degree from Sussex.
James Woods, actor.
Frank Zane, a two-time Mr. Olympia (as in bodybuilding).
James Moriarty, former Professor of Mathematics, author of The
Dynamics of an Asteroid, whose essay on the binomial theorem is
reported to have enjoyed a continental vogue, became the leader
of the most sinister criminal conspiracy in Victorian England. He
has been called 'the Napoleon of Crime.'
Dave Sklar
:
: Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking
: Glass, and other works.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson {LC} wrote some books on logic and was a
mathematician, albeit not a very famous one.
Eric G. Lawton
> So the question is, do you know of any well-known people who
> majored in math but aren't known as mathematicians?
I believe Phillip Glass (the American Composer) has a background in
mathematics. Can someone verify this?
Eric G. Lawton
lawton%ec...@jesnic.jsc.nasa.gov
My opinions and views are not necessarily those of my employer.
william.j.hery
>people who had some kind of math background but weren't known as
>mathematicians.
>Clifford Brown, 50's jazz trumpeter.
He was a maht major at Delaware, but did not complete his bachelor's
degree, opting for professional music instead.
Chico Freema, a current jazz saxophonist, did a similar thing at Northwestern
>David Dinkins, mayor of New York.
Interesting--can anyone give more information on this: what level degree,
from what school? And the jazz<-->math connection show up, since his son-in-law
is jazz vibraphonist Jay Hoggard (OK, that's pretty irrelevant here)
>Tom Lehrer, songwriter-parodist. Ph.D. in Math. at Harvard
I believe he's a mathematician first and a songwriter-parodist second
Add:
Art Garfunkel, folk-rock inger. BS math CUNY?
Bill Hery
Noam Elkies
lawton%ec...@jesnic.jsc.nasa.gov (Eric G. Lawton) writes:
>In article <1992Oct8.1...@lehi3b15.CSEE.Lehigh.EDU>
>buy...@lafcol.lafayette.edu (Steve Buyske) writes:
>> So the question is, do you know of any well-known people who
>> majored in math but aren't known as mathematicians?
>
>I believe Phillip Glass (the American Composer) has a background in
>mathematics. Can someone verify this?
I can't (nor refute it), so I'm cross-posting to rec.music.classical
which as it happens has an ongoing Glass thread (fiber optics?).
Meanwhile I note that music theorist David Lewin and serial composer
Milton Babbitt got their undergraduate degrees in mathematics, and
math figures prominently in their work.
Oh, and Tom Lehrer does not have a Ph.D. in mathematics, though he was
a math graduate student at Harvard for one year.
--Noam D. Elkies (elk...@zariski.harvard.edu)
Dept. of Mathematics, Harvard University
Roger Lustig
>In article <1992Oct13....@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>
>lawton%ec...@jesnic.jsc.nasa.gov (Eric G. Lawton) writes:
>>In article <1992Oct8.1...@lehi3b15.CSEE.Lehigh.EDU>
>>buy...@lafcol.lafayette.edu (Steve Buyske) writes:
>>> So the question is, do you know of any well-known people who
>>> majored in math but aren't known as mathematicians?
>>I believe Phillip Glass (the American Composer) has a background in
>>mathematics. Can someone verify this?
>I can't (nor refute it), so I'm cross-posting to rec.music.classical
>which as it happens has an ongoing Glass thread (fiber optics?).
Correct. U of Chicago, Class of 1956.
(He came back for a visit in 81 or 82 and played some excerpts from
Satyagraha at a talk he gave -- I've described it here previously.
During an interview conducted while walking across campus, he
asked, baffled, "Where's Stagg Field?" It seems he hadn't heard
of its demolition -- in 1958.)
>Meanwhile I note that music theorist David Lewin and serial composer
>Milton Babbitt got their undergraduate degrees in mathematics, and
>math figures prominently in their work.
Shouldn't that read "Serial composer David Lewin and music theorist
Milton Babbitt"? 8-) 8-)
Used to be, composers often studied law...
Roger
K.P. Hart
according to an old Baseball Yearbook.
--
KP. Hart PAPER: dept of math and comp sc
E-MAIL: wia...@dutrun2.tudelft.nl TU Delft
ha...@dutiaw3.twi.tudelft.nl Postbus 5031
PHONE +31-15-784572 NL-2600 GA Delft
Michael Weiss
w...@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (william.j.hery) writes:
Art Garfunkel, folk-rock inger. BS math CUNY?
Ph.D., Columbia, was what I heard. (Of course he might also have a BS from
City University of New York).
Gregg Jaeger
>In article <1992Oct13.2...@husc3.harvard.edu> elk...@ramanujan.harvard.edu (Noam Elkies) writes:
>>In article <1992Oct13....@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>
>>>mathematics. Can someone verify this?
>I don't think Glass ever majored in math. However, Steve Reich's undergrad
>degree is in Philosophy.
>Milton Babbitt finally received his doctorate in math from Princeton -
>several decades late. They had originally rejected his dissertation,
>which I believe concerned serial theory in music. The Princeton pundits
>now say that the dissertation was too far ahead of its time to have
>been appreciated when he wrote it.
This is no doubt, not an isolated incident.
It reminds me of the story of the positivist philosopher Rudolf
Carnap, who wanted to do a logical analysis of Einstein's theory
of relativity for his physics thesis; the physics department told
him to go to the philosophy department! Now `axiomatic' approaches
to physical theories abound.
Gregg
--
Gregg Jaeger (jae...@buphy.bu.edu) VOTE PEROT VOTE PEROT
If you think the Republicans screwed up the country, can you afford to
see what the Democrats will do?! ->BEWARE OF SLICK-WILLY CLINTON!!<-
Noam Elkies
al...@calvin.usc.edu (William Alves) writes:
"In article <1992Oct13.2...@husc3.harvard.edu>
"elk...@ramanujan.harvard.edu (Noam Elkies) writes:
"
">Milton Babbitt got their undergraduate degrees in mathematics, and
">math figures prominently in their work.
"
"
"Milton Babbitt finally received his doctorate in math from Princeton -
Are you sure of that? I had thought it was a music Ph.D. I'd be very
surprised if the mathematical content was deemed worthy of a Princeton
doctorate in pure mathematics. At any rate Babbitt's work on serial
music has had to my knowledge no impact on pure math (it was rather
a new _application_ of some well-understood math to a field where its
significance had not been explicitly noted), but it did greatly affect
at least one brand of music composition, so a music degree makes much
more sense.
While I'm at it, I should have said only that Tom Lehrer never finished
his _Harvard_ Ph.D. in math: he might well have earned a doctorate
elsewhere. At one point I read that his teaching duties at Santa Cruz
included Calculus --- though this wouldn't necessarily prove that he
had the Ph.D.
Roger Lustig
>In article <1992Oct13.2...@husc3.harvard.edu> elk...@ramanujan.harvard.edu (Noam Elkies) writes:
>>>I believe Phillip Glass (the American Composer) has a background in
>>>mathematics. Can someone verify this?
>I don't think Glass ever majored in math. However, Steve Reich's undergrad
>degree is in Philosophy.
[Glass *did* major in math at U of Chi, graduating in 1956. But I
already went over this...]
>>Meanwhile I note that music theorist David Lewin and serial composer
>>Milton Babbitt got their undergraduate degrees in mathematics, and
>>math figures prominently in their work.
[...]
>Milton Babbitt finally received his doctorate in math from Princeton -
>several decades late.
Um, that would make *two* doctorates he received recently from Princeton.
Three, really, if you count the honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters.
But serially, folks, the doctorate he recently received was in *music*.
He never studied math at Princeton, though he taught some during the
war.
>They had originally rejected his dissertation,
>which I believe concerned serial theory in music. The Princeton pundits
>now say that the dissertation was too far ahead of its time to have
>been appreciated when he wrote it.
No, the pundits *always* said that. Departmental politics had far
more to do with it.
>I suspect, too, that they don't
>want to have a famous man and academician harboring any ill will
>towards them.
As if Milton cared! C'mon, you must not know the guy. I mean, after,
what, 53 years in the department? He still comes in every day; what
would a Ph.D. change about anything?
The degree was presented to him as an utter surprise, at the end of
a lunch with the current dept. chairman and dean; they just started addressing
him as Dr. Babbitt...
Roger
RVES...@vma.cc.nd.edu
garfunkel's doctoral thesis was on? i'd be very interested.
Gerald Edgar
>could someone at columbia go to the library and look up what art
>garfunkel's doctoral thesis was on? i'd be very interested.
>
CLIO, Columbia's library listings accessible from the internet, does
not list it. Perhpas CLIO only goes back to a certain date...
--
Gerald A. Edgar Internet: ed...@mps.ohio-state.edu
Department of Mathematics Bitnet: EDGAR@OHSTPY
The Ohio State University telephone: 614-292-0395 (Office)
Columbus, OH 43210 -292-4975 (Math. Dept.) -292-1479 (Dept. Fax)
Richard Zach
|> >>> majored in math but aren't known as mathematicians?
Robert Musil (Austrian writer: _The Man without Qualities_)
--
Richard Zach Technische Universitaet Wien
[za...@csdec1.tuwien.ac.at] Abteilung fuer Formale Logik 185.2
Michael Greenwald
>In article <92288.1136...@vma.cc.nd.edu> <RVES...@vma.cc.nd.edu> writes:
>>could someone at columbia go to the library and look up what art
>>garfunkel's doctoral thesis was on? i'd be very interested.
>>
>CLIO, Columbia's library listings accessible from the internet, does
>not list it. Perhpas CLIO only goes back to a certain date...
Or perhaps Garfunkle didn't get a PhD? When I was in high school, I
had heard that he had been a high school math teacher, but never heard
any PhD stories.
On some sheet music (or maybe it was a record liner from one of the
albums?) I recall a picture of Garfunkle in front of a blackboard. I
think it was an elementary geometry proof, but he was pointing at some
non-sequitors in one of the steps. I think it said something like
"All that glitters is not gold". I don't remember the details.
I'm sceptical about the PhD story, since I think they were essentially
doing folk music full time pretty soon after college, so unless he
were a Wunderkind, there wouldn't have been much time for a PhD.
Of course, I've been wrong before, and this should be easy to look up...
Michael G. Stoecker
>From: mich...@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Michael Greenwald)
>Subject: Re: Well-known people who majored in math (other than mathematicians)
>Date: 15 Oct 92 16:26:44 GMT
I recall a story in Sports Illustrated (I think) within the last few years
about Art Garfunkel "walking" across America. I think it mentioned an
advanced degree (beyond B.S.), but I don't recall what degree and in what
discipline. He has had plenty of leisure since his heyday with Paul Simon
to complete a degree or two.
Mike
Robert Haskins
Glass's having majored in math as an undergraduate. He double-
majored in math and philosophy at the University of Chicago,
graduating, I believe, at the age of eighteen. But for a composer
who made use of his math skills, the award, I think, should go to
Babbitt, who applied mathematical principles to the analysis
and creation of twelve-tone music.
Bob Haskins
Richard Feynman Albert Li
>In article <1bhqnn...@calvin.usc.edu>
>al...@calvin.usc.edu (William Alves) writes:
>"In article <1992Oct13.2...@husc3.harvard.edu>
>"elk...@ramanujan.harvard.edu (Noam Elkies) writes:
>"
>">Meanwhile I note that music theorist David Lewin and serial composer
>">Milton Babbitt got their undergraduate degrees in mathematics, and
>">math figures prominently in their work.
>"
>"[...]
>"
>"Milton Babbitt finally received his doctorate in math from Princeton -
>" ^^^^^^^
>Are you sure of that? I had thought it was a music Ph.D. I'd be very
>surprised if the mathematical content was deemed worthy of a Princeton
>doctorate in pure mathematics. At any rate Babbitt's work on serial
>music has had to my knowledge no impact on pure math (it was rather
>a new _application_ of some well-understood math to a field where its
>significance had not been explicitly noted), but it did greatly affect
>at least one brand of music composition, so a music degree makes much
>more sense.
>--Noam D. Elkies (elk...@zariski.harvard.edu)
> Dept. of Mathematics, Harvard University
I think Babbitt has a music PhD. He studied music with Roger Session
in Princeton.
al
t...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
> So the question is, do you know of any well-known people who
> majored in math but aren't known as mathematicians?
> Here's my list::
[ ... ]
> Ommar Khayyam, author of The Robaiyat.
Hmm, Mr. Khayyam died in 1123 AD, several years before the first university
was founded at Oxford. I wonder where one could major in math back in those
times, particularly in Persia.
Steven E. Hoell
Richard Pinch
>
>Hmm, Mr. Khayyam died in 1123 AD, several years before the first university
>was founded at Oxford. I wonder where one could major in math back in those
>times, particularly in Persia.
>
in Europe, let alone in the world. The Islamic countries had a much
higher standard of learning than Europe in the 12th century: they had
inherited most of the Greek knowledge and developed it. Around 825,
Al-Khowarizmi wrote his Al-jabr w'al-mugabala and constructed tables
of trigonometric functions. The word 'algebra' derived from the title
of his book and the word 'algorithm' from his name. Omar Khayyam was
an astronomer and geometer: he too wrote a treatise on algebra. It was
the influx of Greek and Islamic knowledge into Europe from such works
that brought about the growth of learning (including the universities)
from the 12th century onwards. It would take about three centuries after
his time for the European universities to develop a level of mathematics
comparable to Baghdad, Cairo and other eastern universities.
Richard Pinch (Oxford D.Phil)
Josh Stern
>For what it's worth, Janis Joplin belonged to a high school algebra club.
I won't give you money, but I'll buy you a sandwich and a cup of coffee.
Josh
Hume Winzar
>Subject: Re: Well-known people who majored in math (other than mathematicians)
>Date: 19 Oct 92 15:51:17 GMT
Particularly in Persia?
In Persia, in those days, Astronomy, Philosophy, Medicine, and Maths -
especially Trigonometry and Calculus (not necessarily the same way as we do
it) were all studied together. While my ancestors in Western Europe were
shivering in hovels and learning an unhealthy respect for the Roman Church,
the Persians were living a very sophisticated, tolerant and civilized
culture. Some Iranians are still like that - though their government and
the common folk clearly aren't.
Whether Ommar Khayyam was regarded as a math major I've no idea.
- - - - - - - - -
| _--_|\ | Hume Winzar
| / \ | Commerce School,
| *_.--._/ | Murdoch University,
| v | Perth, Western Australia
- - - - - - - - -
E_Mail win...@csuvax1.csu.murdoch.edu.au
Phone: (09) 310 7389
Fax: (09) 310 5004
Donald W. Fausett
>> majored in math but aren't known as mathematicians?
>
Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun has a B.S. degree in
mathematics. (I hope that this is not a duplication.)
--
+ Don Fausett <dfau...@zach.fit.edu> + ___ __ ____ +
| Department of Applied Mathematics | /_ / / |
| Florida Institute of Technology | / _/_ / |
+ ************************************** + ************************** +
Deryk Barker
mentioned him yet - or have I been asleep?
Deryk Barker, Computer Science Dept., Camosun College, Victoria B.C.
Noam Elkies
dba...@spang.Camosun.BC.CA (Deryk Barker) writes:
>Camille Saint-Saens was a mathematician. I'm surprised nobody has
>mentioned him yet - or have I been asleep?
Perhaps because the fact (if it is indeed a fact) is scarcely a matter
of common knowledge --- what is your source for this? According to
the Grove article, Saint-Saens did have an exceptionally wide range
of interests, but he was no more a mathematician than he was
an archeologist, astronomer, philologist, or playwright --- indeed
the Grove article mentions no work on mathematics at all (nor, FWIW,
do I know of any contribution Saint-Saens made to mathematics),
but does cite specific accomplishments in the other four fields.
Deryk Barker
>In article <1992Oct20....@spang.Camosun.BC.CA>
>dba...@spang.Camosun.BC.CA (Deryk Barker) writes:
>>Camille Saint-Saens was a mathematician. I'm surprised nobody has
>>mentioned him yet - or have I been asleep?
>
>Perhaps because the fact (if it is indeed a fact) is scarcely a matter
>of common knowledge --- what is your source for this?
Good question. It';s just one of those 'fact' one has at the back of
the mind. I'll look around at home and see if I can figure out where
this factoid came from...
Stephan Neuhaus (HiWi Mattern)
> majored in math but aren't known as mathematicians?
What about Donald E. Knuth? He is a professor of Computer Science,
but confesses somewhere in The Art of Computer Programming that these
books present a ``pure mathematician's view'' of the subject.
(Probably CS professors don't count, and maybe he is not even
well-known outside the CS community, but everybody in CS knows who
``Donald E. Knuth'' is.)
He *must* have a degree in mathematics because CS wasn't on the
curricula when he received his degree(s). I admit that I'm not
completely certain about this, though.
Have fun.
--
Stephan <neu...@informatik.uni-kl.de>
sig closed for inventory. Please leave your pickaxe outside.
PGP 2.0 public key available on request. Note the expiration date.
Benjamin ben Benjamin the killer analyst from Albuquerque
Mathematician until a fire prompted him to design some new buildings in
London. The architect of the Haghia Sofia wasa also a Mathematician.
just a few ancient ones,
B
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Serge Elnitsky
J. Lewis
a student of Cayley, and a good one. She was, I gather from a Scientific
American article of a few years ago, the first person in the
English-speaking world to apply statistics to issues of public health.
John Lewis
Memorial University of Newfoundland
J. Lewis
>a student of Cayley,
Ye Gods!! "one of Cayley's students."
It isn't even Friday!! No excuse!!
stephen smoliar
>In article <1bhqnn...@calvin.usc.edu> al...@calvin.usc.edu (William Alves)
>writes:
>
>>several decades late. They had originally rejected his dissertation,
>>which I believe concerned serial theory in music. The Princeton pundits
>>now say that the dissertation was too far ahead of its time to have
>>been appreciated when he wrote it.
>
>This is no doubt, not an isolated incident.
>
>It reminds me of the story of the positivist philosopher Rudolf
>Carnap, who wanted to do a logical analysis of Einstein's theory
>of relativity for his physics thesis; the physics department told
>him to go to the philosophy department! Now `axiomatic' approaches
>to physical theories abound.
>
understanding of what it means to "do physics." In Carnap's time physicists
collected their data through experiments; so the idea that the theory itself
should constitute the data was (understandably) pretty alien. This attitude
about the nature of the data which physicists examine has, indeed, changed
a lot since Carnap proposed his effort.
However, I am not sure the analogy carries over to Babbitt. I, too, majored as
both an undergraduate and graduate student in mathematics. I had to worry
about getting "A Parallel Processing Model of Music Structures" accepted as
a thesis topic. One advantage I had over Babbitt was a mathematics department
which was beginning to tolerate computer science as a division of applied
mathematics. Babbitt was trying to play the pure mathematics game; and I
am not sure that I do not sympathize with those "Princeton pundits" who told
him to get off the field. Ultimately, he was drawing upon the terminology of
mathematics to talk about music; and I do not think this constitutes grounds
for a paradigm shift in the practice of pure mathematics as Carnap's analysis
of relativity did. If Babbitt had used his terminology to then take
observations from music and return them back to new insights in mathematics,
then the pundits would have been happier. On the basis of what I have seen,
however, not only did he not do this; but also, at the end of the day, his
use of the terminology was a least a little shaky (thereby justifying David
Lewin coming along to write a book which told the whole story much more cleanly
and accurately). In other words if the insights which Babbitt developed were
in music, rather than mathematics (which is how I see them), then his degree
should have been in music.
--
Stephen W. Smoliar; Institute of Systems Science
National University of Singapore; Heng Mui Keng Terrace
Kent Ridge, SINGAPORE 0511
Internet: smo...@iss.nus.sg
Roger Lustig
>In article <98...@bu.edu> jae...@buphy.bu.edu (Gregg Jaeger) writes:
>>In article <1bhqnn...@calvin.usc.edu> al...@calvin.usc.edu (William Alves)
>>writes:
>>>Milton Babbitt finally received his doctorate in math from Princeton -
>>>several decades late. They had originally rejected his dissertation,
>>>which I believe concerned serial theory in music. The Princeton pundits
>>>now say that the dissertation was too far ahead of its time to have
>>>been appreciated when he wrote it.
[This is not the case. See below.]
>>This is no doubt, not an isolated incident.
[much deleted wrt paradigms]
>However, I am not sure the analogy carries over to Babbitt. I, too, majored as
>both an undergraduate and graduate student in mathematics. I had to worry
>about getting "A Parallel Processing Model of Music Structures" accepted as
>a thesis topic. One advantage I had over Babbitt was a mathematics department
>which was beginning to tolerate computer science as a division of applied
>mathematics. Babbitt was trying to play the pure mathematics game; and I
>am not sure that I do not sympathize with those "Princeton pundits" who told
>him to get off the field. Ultimately, he was drawing upon the terminology of
>mathematics to talk about music; and I do not think this constitutes grounds
>for a paradigm shift in the practice of pure mathematics as Carnap's analysis
>of relativity did. If Babbitt had used his terminology to then take
>observations from music and return them back to new insights in mathematics,
>then the pundits would have been happier. On the basis of what I have seen,
>however, not only did he not do this; but also, at the end of the day, his
>use of the terminology was a least a little shaky (thereby justifying David
>Lewin coming along to write a book which told the whole story much more cleanly
>and accurately). In other words if the insights which Babbitt developed were
>in music, rather than mathematics (which is how I see them), then his degree
>should have been in music.
And it is! Here's the story:
Babbitt would have been the first Ph.D. in music from Princeton. The
chairman of the department, a great scholar in his own right, was not
happy about this, not approving of Babbitt in any way--as a composer or
as a theorist. He blocked the degree; there may also have been a note
of jealousy, as the chairman had no degree of his own--not a Ph.D., not
a Bachelor's, not a high school diploma.
The chairman stood firm, and no Ph.D. was granted to a composer at Princeton
until 1966--over his head. He retired at that point, and had little to
do with the department after that.
However, the first Ph.D. from the music department was granted to a
musicologist shortly after the Babbitt affair. TRIVIA: who was it?
So, one more time: Babbitt *never* applied for, studied for, or received
or was denied a degree in mathematics at Princeton. He received an
MFA in music and recently his Ph.D.
However, he *taught* math during the war.
Got it?
Roger
Jan Willem Nienhuys
#a student of Cayley, and a good one. She was, I gather from a Scientific
#American article of a few years ago, the first person in the
#English-speaking world to apply statistics to issues of public health.
#
#John Lewis
#Memorial University of Newfoundland
She was even made honorary member of the Statistical Society. About Cayley,
I don't know. Of course, before Nightingale there was Quetelet, the Belgian
who applied statistics to various social matters (suicide, marriage, crime),
after having got the idea from old Laplace when Q. visited L. in Paris to
investigate the latest astronomical technology. Quetelet's book in these
matters was said to be considered as a kind of Bible by N.
JWN
Tony Mullins
fact. He got his B.S. and M.S. from Case Institute of Technology
(then Case School of Applied Science) and his PhD from California
Institute of Technology, where he taught for some time prior to
joining the Stanford faculty.
The only reason I know this is that the Case Alumni magazine profiled
him about one year ago. His story is quite interesting as he was and
is a somewhat eccentric individual. He received his M.S. as the
result of solving a problem posed by a professor as an open research
problem. The professor promised that anyone who could solve one of
the listed problems from his research would be recommended for the
Masters degree simultaneously with the Bachelors. Knuth solved the
problem and the professor honored his promise.
The profile in the Case Alumni magazine has other interesting
anecdotes from Knuth's career. Anyone interested should procure a
copy.
--
Tony Mullins (jam...@che.utexas.edu)
Dept. of Chemical Engineering, CPE 5.438
University of Texas - Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1062
Gregory McColm
>In article <81...@ut-emx.uucp> t...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu writes:
>>
>>Hmm, Mr. Khayyam died in 1123 AD, several years before the first university
>>was founded at Oxford. I wonder where one could major in math back in those
>>times, particularly in Persia.
>>
>Oh dear. The University of Oxford was not even the first university
>in Europe, let alone in the world. The Islamic countries had a much
>higher standard of learning than Europe in the 12th century: they had
I was under the impression that the oldest university-like
institution was Plato's Academy, which was similar to that,
er, cult that Pythagoras had set up in South Italy. The
oldest university---according to some undergrad texts---was
the Museum at Alexandria.
But were there universities in Medieval Islam? I thought
that it was like pre-Academy Greece, with various "enlightened
monarchs" setting up large courts inhabited by painters,
writers, astrologers, theologians, and the like. Certainly,
that was the environment that Khayyam lived in----a world
closer politically to Mozart's than to Newton's.
-----Greg McColm
Dave Joyce
Yes, the great universities at the time included those at Baghdad, the Bait
al-hakma (House of Wisdom), Cairo, and Cordova, and there were others.
For a nice intro to the subject read J.L. Berggren's _Episodes in the
Mathematics of Medieval Islam_, Springer-Verlag, 1986.
--
David E. Joyce Dept. Math. & Comp. Sci.
Internet: djo...@black.clarku.edu Clark University
BITnet: djoyce@clarku Worcester, MA 01610-1477