Aiming for High Standards: Solomon Lefschetz as Editor of the Annals of Mathematics

Transcription

1 Aiming for High Standards: Solomon Lefschetz as Editor of the Annals of Mathematics DELLA DUMBAUGH UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND

2 CIRMATH Goals To provide a venue in which European CIRMATH members can intensively interact with historians of mathematics from the Americas working on related historical questions. To provide opportunities for American and European researchers at earlier stages in their careers to develop significant and enduring research collaborations with established scholars in the history of mathematics.

3 Overview How I arrived at this research Intro to Solomon Lefschetz Intro to Annals of Mathematics Link these two strands Concluding comments

4 Solomon Lefschetz ( )

5 Lefschetz Ditty Here s to Lefschetz, Solomon L. Irrepressible as hell When he s at last beneath the sod He ll then begin to heckle God. (From Saunders Mac Lane: A Mathematical Autobiography)

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7 Solomon Lefschetz ( )

8 Solomon Lefschetz Born September 3, 1884 in Moscow, Russia Grew up in Paris Earned Engineering Degree in 1905 from Ècole Centrale Paris Moved to US in 1905 Westinghouse, Pittsburgh, PA Industrial Accident, 1907, lost hands at the age of 23 soon realized my true path was not engineering but mathematics. Earned Ph.D. in mathematics at Clark University (William Story) in 1911 Alice Hayes tower of strength to him for the rest of his life.

9 Solomon Lefschetz Born September 3, 1884 in Moscow, Russia Grew up in Paris Earned Engineering Degree in 1905 from Ècole Centrale Paris Moved to US in 1905 Westinghouse, Pittsburgh, PA Industrial Accident, 1907, lost hands at the age of 23 soon realized my true path was not engineering but mathematics. Earned Ph.D. in mathematics at Clark University (William Story) in 1911 Alice Hayes tower of strength to him for the rest of his life.

10 University of Nebraska ( ) University of Kansas ( ) in complete mathematical calm.

11 Mathematical Calm The role the almost total isolation of Nebraska and Kansas played in his development the mathematical calm of Nebraska-Kansas, which I had so enjoyed without realizing it. Solomon Lefschetz, Reminiscences of a Mathematical Immigrant, The American Mathematical Monthly, 1970 On teaching: the experience generally absorbs too much energy.

12 Europe Paris Rome I gained little mathematical profit from it. Solomon Lefschetz, Reminiscences of a Mathematical Immigrant, The American Mathematical Monthly, 1970

13 Princeton

14 Lefschetz at Princeton Visiting Professor (James Alexander and Oswald Veblen) Associate Professor of Mathematics Full Professor Editor of Annals of Mathematics 1930 Topology AMS Colloquium Publications H. B. Fine Professor (succeeded Oswald Veblen, preceded Emil Artin) AMS President Chair of Mathematics Department 1953 Retired ( did not mark slackening of his active life )

15 Lefschetz as Administrator Lefschetz was a research administrator of the highest order. He was direct, decisive and persuasive. He saw it as his duty to provide the atmosphere, environment, and conditions conducive to the best research. (William Hodge)

16 Lefschetz as Advisor: Students Paul A. Smith (1926) William Flexner (1930) Albert Tucker (1932) Robert Walker (1934) Norman Steenrod (1936) Henry Wallman (1937) Shaun Wylie (1937) Clifford Dowker (1938) Ralph Fox (1939) John Tukey (1939) Edward Begle (1940) Arthur Stone (1941) Dan Christie (1942) Clifford Truesdell (1944) Richard Bellman (1946) Albert Blakers (1947) Stephen Diliberto (1947) Felix Browder (1948) Robert Prim (1949) Frank Brownell (1949) Lawrence Rauch (1949) John McCarthy (1951) Francis Fuller (1951) George F. D. Duff (1951) Donald Bushaw (1952) Ralph Gomory (1954) Courtney Coleman (1955) James Lillo (1956) Pincus Mendelson (1956) Santiago Alberto Verjovsky Sola (Brown) (1973)

17 Norman Steenrod Received Ph. D in 1936 Held positions at the University of Chicago from , and the University of Michigan from Returned to Princeton in 1947 and remained on the Faculty there. Obtained Ph.D in two years Elected to the National Academy of Science in Dedicated his co-authored book Foundations of Algebraic Topology to Lefschetz

18 Annals of Mathematics Editor,

19 The Annals of Mathematics Joel E. Hendricks founded The Analyst in 1874 and served as its Editor-in-chief When his health declined, Hendricks made arrangements for The Analyst to move to UVA and Ormond Stone assume editorship in Became Annals of Mathematics. Moved to Harvard in 1899 and Princeton in In 1933, Princeton and IAS assumed joint editorial responsibility. A. W. Tucker claims: (1) At this point the journal became more international in authorship; (2) Annals run with a great deal of favoritism. 1950: Expanded from 4 to 6 issues per year.

20 Lefschetz on Annals I was editor of the Annals of Mathematics, which grew to occupy an A-1 place in mathematics, but did not overwhelm me with work." Solomon Lefschetz, Reminiscences of a Mathematical Immigrant, The American Mathematical Monthly, 1970

21 Lefschetz as editor of Annals Lefschetz was an editor of the Annals of Mathematics from , and his influence dominated the editorial policy that made the Annals into a foremost mathematical journal. National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir of Solomon Lefschetz, By Phillip Griffiths, Donald Spencer and George Whitehead.

22 Lefschetz as editor of Annals He employed drastic methods in his capacity as editor of the Annals of Mathematics. No leniency was shown towards any paper submitted to the journal which was not up to his standards, and anyone who disagreed with his judgement had to work very hard to make him change his mind. But once he decided that a man was worth helping, there was no limit to the aid he would give him. By these methods he made the Annals one of the top mathematical journals in the world, and and he and his colleagues made Princeton a world centre of mathematics. Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, Solomon Lefschetz , by William Hodge

23 Exploring Lefschetz as Editor of Annals

24 Back to basics: My first research project

25 More contemporary Publication, Power, and Patronage: On Inequality and Academic Publishing Chad Wellmon and Andrew Piper, Critical Inquiry, July, 2017.

26 Entry points Leadership? How many articles? Who were the authors? Europeans? (CIRMATH goal) Favoritism? (Tucker s claim) Nationalities? Women? African Americans?

27 Annals Editors

28 100 Number of Articles Appearing in Annals

29 Lefschetz on Annals (1858 articles) I was editor of the Annals of Mathematics, which grew to occupy an A-1 place in mathematics, but did not overwhelm me with work." Solomon Lefschetz, Reminiscences of a Mathematical Immigrant, The American Mathematical Monthly, 1970

30 Who published in the Annals? A veritable who s who in mathematics Jesse Douglas Albert Einstein Luther Phaler Eisenhart C. C. MacDuffee George Birkhoff Hermann Weyl Solomon Lefschetz E. J. McShane Carl Ludwig Siegel Gordon Whyburn Marshall Stone A. W. Tucker Nathan Jacobson Norbert Wiener Paul Erdös A. Adrian Albert Oystein Ore Richard Brauer E. T. Bell Hassler Whitney S. S. Chern H. S. Vandiver Emil Artin Saunders Mac Lane

31 Publications by Lefschetz s Students in Annals, Publications by Lefschetz s Students in Annals, Note: 69 articles. (~One volume) Lefschetz s students comprised only 3.7% of total published articles. 2 0

32 Whispers of Women: Publications by Women in the Annals Year Author 1928 Laura Guggenbuhl 1928 Caroline Seely 1929 Deborah May Hickey 1930 Caroline Seely 1938 Gertrude S. Ketchum 1938 Emma Lehmer 1943 Florence M. Mears 1947 M. L. Cartwright 1948 M. L. Cartwright 1949 M. L. Cartwright 1949 Hel Braun (IAS ) 1950 Hel Braun (IAS ) 1951 Hel Braun (IAS ) 1951 M. L. Cartwright 1951 Julia Robinson 1951 Joanne Elliott 1951 Yael Naim Dowker 1953 Yael Naim Dowker 1953 Jane Cronin 1955 Yael Naim Dowker

33 Annals of Mathematics; Vol. 43, No. 3, July 1942

34 Annals of Mathematics; Vol. 43, No. 3, July 1942

35 African American Authors in the Annals David Blackwell, 3 articles: 1942, 1945, 1951 (with Richard Bellman) (Blackwell visited IAS in 1941) Jesse Ernest Wilkins, 2 articles: 1944, 1948 (Wilkins visited IAS in Fall, 1942)

36 CIRMATH goal: Tracing the impact of journals on the circulation of mathematics within the Americas and between the Americas and Europe from 1850 to ( Annals) Papers published in English, French, German Albert Einstein 11 John von Neumann 27 Salomon Bochner 43 Emil Artin 5 Carl Ludwig Siegel 16 ( ) Samuel Eilenberg 20

37 Using Lefschetz s tenure at the Annals to trace the impact of journals on the circulation of mathematics between the Americas and China Chinese Authors in Annals

38 30 Nationalities of Annals Authors,

39 4 The Publication History of A. Adrian Albert in the Annals publications in this time; 33 in Annals (64.7%) Chicago PH.D. 1928, Princeton But once he decided that a man was worth helping, there was no limit to the aid he would give him.

40 Concluding thoughts: Exploring Journals What role did the Annals of Mathematics play in the development of American mathematics? Annals of Mathematics Lefschetz s career and his administrative style Princeton Institute for Advanced Study Growth of institutions-mathematicians needed places to publish Careers of individual mathematicians Influence of political developments Geography matters for the Annals (preliminary)

41 Broader Concluding thoughts: Power and Prestige What role did the Annals of Mathematics play in the development of American mathematics? Parshall and Rowe: : Consolidation and growth of research traditions and institutions : Influx of European mathematicians, Government funding Wellmon and Piper: The Writtenness of Knowledge the research university emerged as a system of paper and publishing. Its advocates, from [Wilhelm von] Humboldt in Berlin to [Daniel Coit] Gilman in Baltimore, cast its relationship to print as a primary source of its objectivity and, thus, the internal and external marker of prestige.

42 Broader still How did the institutional prestige and power of Princeton and the Institute for Advanced Study shape intellectual spaces? How did the institutional prestige and power of Princeton and the Institute for Advanced Study shape American mathematics? Should this institutional prestige and power be viewed as a norm to be defended and continued, a model? Or a problem to be addressed?

43 Thank you.