The new era in American mathematics, 1920-1950 /
Karen Hunger Parshall.
- 1 online resource (xxvii, 605 pages) : illustrations, map
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE FOOTNOTES AND TABLES FOR AMERICAN MATHEMATICAL PUBLICATIONS -- PART I 1920-1929: "We are evidently on the verge of important steps forward." -- 1 Surveying the 1920s Research Landscape -- 2 Strengthening the Infrastructure of American Mathematics -- 3 Breaking onto the International Scene -- PART II 1929-1941: "A generation ago we were in need of direct stimulation . . . now we could well interchange." --Griffith Evans, 16 January, 1934 -- 4 Sustaining the Momentum? -- 5 Adapting to Geopolitical Changes -- 6 Taking Stock in a Changing World -- 7 Looking beyond the United States -- PA RT III 1941-1950: The "center of gravity of mathematics has moved more definitely toward America." --Roland Richardson, 25 April, 1939 -- 8 Waging War -- 9 Picking Back Up and Moving On in the Postwar World -- 10 Sustaining and Building Research Agendas -- CODA: A new era in American mathematics -- The New Domestic Politics of Mathematics -- The New Geopolitics of Mathematics -- The International Congress of Mathematicians: Cambridge, MA, 1950 -- REFERENCES -- INDEX
"The 1920s witnessed the birth of a serious mathematical research community in America. Prior to this, mathematical research was dominated by scholars based in Europe-but World War I had made the importance of scientific and technological development clear to the American research community, resulting in the establishment of new scientific initiatives and infrastructure. Physics and chemistry were the beneficiaries of this renewed scientific focus, but the mathematical community also benefitted, and over time, began to flourish. Over the course of the next two decades, despite significant obstacles, this constellation of mathematical researchers, programs, and government infrastructure would become one of the strongest in the world. In this meticulously-researched book, Karen Parshall documents the uncertain, but ultimately successful, rise of American mathematics during this time. Drawing on research carried out in archives around the country and around the world, as well as on the secondary literature, she reveals how geopolitical circumstances shifted the course of international mathematics. She provides surveys of the mathematical research landscape in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, introduces the key players and institutions in mathematics at that time, and documents the effect of the Great Depression and the second world war on the international mathematical community. The result is a comprehensive account of the shift of mathematics' "center of gravity" to the American stage"-- "A meticulously researched history on the development of American mathematics in the three decades following World War IAs the Roaring Twenties lurched into the Great Depression, to be followed by the scourge of Nazi Germany and World War II, American mathematicians pursued their research, positioned themselves collectively within American science, and rose to global mathematical hegemony. How did they do it? The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920-1950 explores the institutional, financial, social, and political forces that shaped and supported this community in the first half of the twentieth century. In doing so, Karen Hunger Parshall debunks the widely held view that American mathematics only thrived after European �emigr�es fled to the shores of the United States.Drawing from extensive archival and primary-source research, Parshall uncovers the key players in American mathematics who worked together to effect change and she looks at their research output over the course of three decades. She highlights the educational, professional, philanthropic, and governmental entities that bolstered progress. And she uncovers the strategies implemented by American mathematicians in their quest for the advancement of knowledge. Throughout, she considers how geopolitical circumstances shifted the course of the discipline.Examining how the American mathematical community asserted itself on the international stage, The New Era in American Mathematics, 1920-1950 shows the ways one nation became the focal point for the field"--
9780691233819 0691233810
9782445 IEEE
2021051902
1900-1999
Mathematics--Research--History--United States--20th century. MATHEMATICS / History & Philosophy. HISTORY / United States / 20th Century. Mathematics--Research.