Clarence Abiathar Waldo (January 21, 1852 – October 1, 1926) was an

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mathematician, author and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, most famous, today, for the role he played in the Indiana Pi Bill affair.

Life and career

Born in

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, Waldo married Abby Wright Allen (1856–?) in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

in 1881. In 1884 they had a daughter, Alice. Waldo received his A.B. (1875) and A.M. (1878) degrees from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. (1894) from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

. A member of Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa, he was tutor at the Department of Mathematics of Wesleyan University from 1877 to 1881. Subsequently, he was professor of mathematics (from 1883 to 1891), librarian, and twice Acting President (from 1885 to 1886 and 1888 to 1889) at Rose Polytechnic Institute of

Terre Haute, Indiana Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

; professor of mathematics at DePauw University of Greencastle, Indiana from 1891 to 1895; head professor of mathematics at Purdue University of West Lafayette, Indiana from 1895 to 1898; professor of mathematics (1908 to 1910), Thayer Professor of Mathematics and Applied Mechanics, head of the Department of Mathematics (1910 to 1917), and Professor Emeritus (after 1917) at Washington University in St. Louis. In 1888 Waldo published ''A manual of descriptive geometry, with numerous problems''. Waldo was a charter member of the

Indiana Academy of Science Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th st ...

and served as the Academy's president in 1897. He achieved a modicum of fame that year when he explained to members of the

Indiana State Senate The Indiana Senate is the upper house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The Senate is composed of 50 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. Senators serve four-year terms ...

why a bill that would redefine the value of ''pi'' and attempt to

square the circle Squaring the circle is a problem in geometry first proposed in Greek mathematics. It is the challenge of constructing a square with the area of a circle by using only a finite number of steps with a compass and straightedge. The difficulty ...

should not be adopted.

Book

* Clarence A. Waldo, ''A manual of descriptive geometry, with numerous problems'', Boston: D.C. Heath and Co., 1888, 1895, 77 pages.

References

Weslayan University Science Faculty, 1831-1961
*Visher, Stephen Sargent, ''Indiana Scientists: A Biographical Directory and an Analysis'', Indianapolis: Indiana Academy of Science, 1951.

External links

Book information on ''A manual of descriptive geometry''

Waldo's genealogy at RootsWeb.com
* 1852 births 1926 deaths 19th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians American textbook writers American male non-fiction writers Wesleyan University alumni Syracuse University alumni DePauw University faculty Purdue University faculty Washington University in St. Louis faculty Washington University in St. Louis mathematicians People from St. Lawrence County, New York 19th-century male writers Mathematicians from New York (state) {{US-mathematician-stub