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The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...
s dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, advocacy and other programs. The society is one of the four parts of the
Joint Policy Board for Mathematics The Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM) consists of the American Mathematical Society, the American Statistical Association, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. The Board has nea ...
and a member of the Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences.


History

The AMS was founded in 1888 as the New York Mathematical Society, the brainchild of
Thomas Fiske Thomas Scott Fiske (1865–January 10, 1944) was an American mathematician. He was born in New York City and graduated in 1885 (Ph.D., 1888) from Columbia University, where he was a fellow, assistant, tutor, instructor, and adjunct professor u ...
, who was impressed by the
London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh Mathematical ...
on a visit to England.
John Howard Van Amringe John Howard Van Amringe (April 3, 1836 – September 10, 1915) was an American educator and mathematician. Life and career Van Amringe was born in Philadelphia on April 3, 1835. He was a son of William Frederick Van Amringe (1791–1873) and S ...
was the first president and Fiske became secretary. The society soon decided to publish a journal, but ran into some resistance, due to concerns about competing with the American Journal of Mathematics. The result was the ''
Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society The ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' is a quarterly mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society. Scope It publishes surveys on contemporary research topics, written at a level accessible to non-experts. ...
'', with Fiske as editor-in-chief. The de facto journal, as intended, was influential in increasing membership. The popularity of the ''Bulletin'' soon led to
Transactions of the American Mathematical Society The ''Transactions of the American Mathematical Society'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of mathematics published by the American Mathematical Society. It was established in 1900. As a requirement, all articles must be more than 15 p ...
and
Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society ''Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of mathematics published by the American Mathematical Society. As a requirement, all articles must be at most 15 printed pages. According to the ' ...
, which were also ''de facto'' journals. In 1891
Charlotte Angas Scott Charlotte Angas Scott (8 June 1858 – 10 November 1931) was a British mathematician who made her career in the United States and was influential in the development of American mathematics, including the mathematical education of women. Scott ...
of Britain became the first woman to join the AMS, then called the New York Mathematical Society. The society reorganized under its present name (American Mathematical Society) and became a national society in 1894, and that year Scott became the first woman on the first Council of the society. In 1927 Anna Pell-Wheeler became the first woman to present a lecture at the society's Colloquium. In 1951 there was a south-eastern sectional meeting of the
Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...
in
Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and th ...
. The citation delivered at the 2007 MAA awards presentation, where
Lee Lorch Lee Alexander Lorch (September 20, 1915 – February 28, 2014) was an American mathematician, early civil rights activist, and communist. His leadership in the campaign to desegregate Stuyvesant Town, a large housing development on the East Side ...
received a standing ovation, recorded that: :"''
Lee Lorch Lee Alexander Lorch (September 20, 1915 – February 28, 2014) was an American mathematician, early civil rights activist, and communist. His leadership in the campaign to desegregate Stuyvesant Town, a large housing development on the East Side ...
, the chair of the mathematics department at
Fisk University Fisk University is a private historically black liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus is a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1930, Fisk was the first Africa ...
, and three Black colleagues, Evelyn Boyd (now Granville), Walter Brown, and H. M. Holloway came to the meeting and were able to attend the scientific sessions. However, the organizer for the closing banquet refused to honor the reservations of these four mathematicians. (Letters in Science, August 10, 1951, pp. 161–162 spell out the details). Lorch and his colleagues wrote to the governing bodies of the AMS
merican Mathematical Society ''Merican'' is an Extended play, EP by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released February 10, 2004. It was the band's first release for Fat Wreck Chords and served as a pre-release to their sixth studio album ''Cool to Be You'', releas ...
and MAA seeking bylaws against discrimination. Bylaws were not changed, but non-discriminatory policies were established and have been strictly observed since then.''"MAA citation
for Yueh-Gin Gung and Dr. Charles Y. Hu Distinguished Service to Mathematics Award.
Also in 1951, the American Mathematical Society's headquarters moved from
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to
Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
. The society later added an office in
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all ...
in 1965 and an office in Washington, D.C. in 1992. In 1954 the society called for the creation of a new teaching degree, a Doctor of Arts in Mathematics, similar to a PhD but without a research thesis. In the 1970s, as reported in "A Brief History of the Association for Women in Mathematics: The Presidents' Perspectives", by Lenore Blum, "In those years the AMS
merican Mathematical Society ''Merican'' is an Extended play, EP by the American punk rock band the Descendents, released February 10, 2004. It was the band's first release for Fat Wreck Chords and served as a pre-release to their sixth studio album ''Cool to Be You'', releas ...
was governed by what could only be called an 'old boys network,' closed to all but those in the inner circle."
Mary W. Gray Mary Lee Wheat Gray (born April 8, 1938) is an American mathematician, statistician, and lawyer. She is the author of books and papers in the fields of mathematics, mathematics education, computer science, applied statistics, economic equity, d ...
challenged that situation by "sitting in on the Council meeting in Atlantic City. When she was told she had to leave, she refused saying she would wait until the police came. (Mary relates the story somewhat differently: When she was told she had to leave, she responded she could find no rules in the by-laws restricting attendance at Council meetings. She was then told it was by 'gentlemen's agreement.' Naturally Mary replied 'Well, obviously I'm no gentleman.') After that time, Council meetings were open to observers and the process of democratization of the Society had begun." Also, in 1971 the AMS established its Joint Committee on Women in the Mathematical Sciences (JCW), which later became a joint committee of multiple scholarly societies. Julia Robinson was the first female president of the American Mathematical Society (1983–1984) but was unable to complete her term as she was suffering from leukemia. In 1988 the
Journal of the American Mathematical Society The ''Journal of the American Mathematical Society'' (''JAMS''), is a quarterly peer-reviewed mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society. It was established in January 1988. Abstracting and indexing This journal is abs ...
was created, with the intent of being the flagship journal of the AMS.


Meetings

The AMS, along with more than a dozen other organizations, holds the largest annual research mathematics meeting in the world, the Joint Mathematics Meeting, in early January. The 2019 Joint Mathematics Meeting in Baltimore drew approximately 6,000 attendees. Each of the four regional sections of the AMS (Central, Eastern, Southeastern, and Western) holds meetings in the spring and fall of each year. The society also co-sponsors meetings with other international mathematical societies.


Fellows

The AMS selects an annual class of Fellows who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of mathematics.


Publications

The AMS publishes
Mathematical Reviews ''Mathematical Reviews'' is a journal published by the American Mathematical Society (AMS) that contains brief synopses, and in some cases evaluations, of many articles in mathematics, statistics, and theoretical computer science. The AMS also pu ...
, a database of reviews of mathematical publications, various journals, and books. In 1997 the AMS acquired the Chelsea Publishing Company, which it continues to use as an imprint. In 2017, the AMS acquired the MAA Press, the book publishing program of the Mathematical Association of America. The AMS will continue to publish books under the MAA Press imprint. Journals: * General ** ''
Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society The ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' is a quarterly mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society. Scope It publishes surveys on contemporary research topics, written at a level accessible to non-experts. ...
'' — published quarterly ** ''Communications of the American Mathematical Society'' — online only ** ''Electronic Research Announcements of the American Mathematical Society'' — online only ** ''
Journal of the American Mathematical Society The ''Journal of the American Mathematical Society'' (''JAMS''), is a quarterly peer-reviewed mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society. It was established in January 1988. Abstracting and indexing This journal is abs ...
'' — published quarterly ** '' Memoirs of the American Mathematical Society'' — published six times per year ** ''
Notices of the American Mathematical Society ''Notices of the American Mathematical Society'' is the membership journal of the American Mathematical Society (AMS), published monthly except for the combined June/July issue. The first volume appeared in 1953. Each issue of the magazine sinc ...
'' — published monthly, one of the most widely read mathematical periodicals ** ''
Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society ''Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of mathematics published by the American Mathematical Society. As a requirement, all articles must be at most 15 printed pages. According to the ' ...
'' — published monthly ** ''
Transactions of the American Mathematical Society The ''Transactions of the American Mathematical Society'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of mathematics published by the American Mathematical Society. It was established in 1900. As a requirement, all articles must be more than 15 p ...
'' — published monthly * Subject-specific ** ''Conformal Geometry and Dynamics'' — online only ** ''Journal of Algebraic Geometry'' – published quarterly ** ''
Mathematics of Computation ''Mathematics of Computation'' is a bimonthly mathematics journal focused on computational mathematics. It was established in 1943 as ''Mathematical Tables and other Aids to Computation'', obtaining its current name in 1960. Articles older than fiv ...
'' — published quarterly ** ''
Mathematical Surveys and Monographs ''Mathematical Surveys and Monographs'' is a Monographic series, series of monographs published by the American Mathematical Society. Each volume in the series gives a survey of the subject along with a brief introduction to recent developments a ...
'' ** ''Representation Theory'' — online only * Translation Journals ** ''St. Petersburg Mathematical Journal'' ** '' Theory of Probability and Mathematical Statistics'' ** ''Transactions of the Moscow Mathematical Society'' ** ''Sugaku Expositions'' Proceedings and Collections:
Advances in Soviet Mathematics

American Mathematical Society Translations

AMS/IP Studies in Advanced Mathematics

Centre de Recherches Mathématiques (CRM) Proceedings & Lecture Notes

Contemporary Mathematics

IMACS: Series in Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science

Fields Institute Communications

Proceedings of Symposia in Applied Mathematics

Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics


Prizes

Some prizes are awarded jointly with other mathematical organizations. See specific articles for details. *
Bôcher Memorial Prize The Bôcher Memorial Prize was founded by the American Mathematical Society in 1923 in memory of Maxime Bôcher with an initial endowment of $1,450 (contributed by members of that society). It is awarded every three years (formerly every five year ...
*
Cole Prize The Frank Nelson Cole Prize, or Cole Prize for short, is one of twenty-two prizes awarded to mathematicians by the American Mathematical Society, one for an outstanding contribution to algebra, and the other for an outstanding contribution to numbe ...
*
David P. Robbins Prize The David P. Robbins Prize for papers reporting novel research in algebra, combinatorics, or discrete mathematics is awarded both by the American Mathematical Society (AMS) and by the Mathematical Association of America (MAA). The AMS award recog ...
* Morgan Prize * Fulkerson Prize * Leroy P. Steele Prizes * Norbert Wiener Prize in Applied Mathematics *
Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry __NOTOC__ The Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry is an award granted by the American Mathematical Society for notable research in geometry or topology. It was founded in 1961 in memory of Oswald Veblen. The Veblen Prize is now worth US$5000, and ...


Outreach

The AMS creates outreach materials aimed at middle school, high school, and college students. These include:
Posters
about mathematicians and mathematics
Mathematical Moments
posters and interviews about applications of math to science and society
Math in the Media
a monthly rundown of news articles that mention math, paired with classroom activities on the relevant math concepts.


Typesetting

The AMS was an early advocate of the typesetting program TeX, requiring that contributions be written in it and producing its own packages
AMS-TeX AMS-LaTeX is a collection of LaTeX document classes and packages developed for the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Its additions to LaTeX include the typesetting of multi-line and other mathematical statements, document classes, and fonts co ...
and
AMS-LaTeX AMS-LaTeX is a collection of LaTeX document classes and packages developed for the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Its additions to LaTeX include the typesetting of multi-line and other mathematical statements, document classes, and fonts c ...
. TeX and LaTeX are now ubiquitous in mathematical publishing.


Presidents

The AMS is led by the President, who is elected for a two-year term, and cannot serve for two consecutive terms.


1888–1900

*
John Howard Van Amringe John Howard Van Amringe (April 3, 1836 – September 10, 1915) was an American educator and mathematician. Life and career Van Amringe was born in Philadelphia on April 3, 1835. He was a son of William Frederick Van Amringe (1791–1873) and S ...
(New York Mathematical Society) (1888–1890) *
Emory McClintock Emory McClintock (1840–1916), born John Emory McClintock was an Americans, American actuary, born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Columbia University, where he was tutor in mathematics in 1859–1860. From ...
(New York Mathematical Society) (1891–94) * George Hill (1895–96) * Simon Newcomb (1897–98) * Robert Woodward (1899–1900)


1901–1950

* Eliakim Moore (1901–02) *
Thomas Fiske Thomas Scott Fiske (1865–January 10, 1944) was an American mathematician. He was born in New York City and graduated in 1885 (Ph.D., 1888) from Columbia University, where he was a fellow, assistant, tutor, instructor, and adjunct professor u ...
(1903–04) * William Osgood (1905–06) * Henry White (1907–08) *
Maxime Bôcher Maxime Bôcher (August 28, 1867 – September 12, 1918) was an American mathematician who published about 100 papers on differential equations, series, and algebra. He also wrote elementary texts such as ''Trigonometry'' and ''Analytic Geometry''. ...
(1909–10) *
Henry Fine Henry Burchard Fine (September 14, 1858 – December 22, 1928) was an American university dean and mathematician. Life and career Henry Burchard Fine (1858 – 1928) played a critical role in modernizing the American university and raising A ...
(1911–12) * Edward Van Vleck (1913–14) * Ernest Brown (1915–16) * Leonard Dickson (1917–18) * Frank Morley (1919–20) * Gilbert Bliss (1921–22) *
Oswald Veblen Oswald Veblen (June 24, 1880 – August 10, 1960) was an American mathematician, geometer and topologist, whose work found application in atomic physics and the theory of relativity. He proved the Jordan curve theorem in 1905; while this wa ...
(1923–24) * George Birkhoff (1925–26) * Virgil Snyder (1927–28) * Earle Raymond Hedrick (1929–30) * Luther Eisenhart (1931–32) * Arthur Byron Coble (1933–34) * Solomon Lefschetz (1935–36) * Robert Moore (1937–38) * Griffith C. Evans (1939–40) * Marston Morse (1941–42) *
Marshall Stone Marshall Harvey Stone (April 8, 1903 – January 9, 1989) was an American mathematician who contributed to real analysis, functional analysis, topology and the study of Boolean algebras. Biography Stone was the son of Harlan Fiske Stone, who wa ...
(1943–44) * Theophil Hildebrandt (1945–46) *
Einar Hille Carl Einar Hille (28 June 1894 – 12 February 1980) was an American mathematics professor and scholar. Hille authored or coauthored twelve mathematical books and a number of mathematical papers. Early life and education Hille was born in New ...
(1947–48) * Joseph L. Walsh (1949–50)


1951–2000

*
John von Neumann John von Neumann (; hu, Neumann János Lajos, ; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist, engineer and polymath. He was regarded as having perhaps the widest c ...
(1951–52) * Gordon Whyburn (1953–54) *
Raymond Wilder Raymond Louis Wilder (3 November 1896 in Palmer, Massachusetts – 7 July 1982 in Santa Barbara, California) was an American mathematician, who specialized in topology and gradually acquired philosophical and anthropological interests. Life Wilde ...
(1955–56) * Richard Brauer (1957–58) * Edward McShane (1959–60) * Deane Montgomery (1961–62) * Joseph Doob (1963–64) * Abraham Albert (1965–66) * Charles B. Morrey Jr. (1967–68) * Oscar Zariski (1969–70) * Nathan Jacobson (1971–72) * Saunders Mac Lane (1973–74) * Lipman Bers (1975–76) *
R. H. Bing R. H. Bing (October 20, 1914 – April 28, 1986) was an American mathematician who worked mainly in the areas of geometric topology and continuum theory. His father was named Rupert Henry, but Bing's mother thought that "Rupert Henry" was to ...
(1977–78) *
Peter Lax Peter David Lax (born Lax Péter Dávid; 1 May 1926) is a Hungarian-born American mathematician and Abel Prize laureate working in the areas of pure and applied mathematics. Lax has made important contributions to integrable systems, fluid d ...
(1979–80) * Andrew Gleason (1981–82) * Julia Robinson (1983–84) * Irving Kaplansky (1985–86) *
George Mostow George Daniel Mostow (July 4, 1923 – April 4, 2017) was an American mathematician, renowned for his contributions to Lie theory. He was the Henry Ford II (emeritus) Professor of Mathematics at Yale University, a member of the National Academ ...
(1987–88) * William Browder (1989–90) *
Michael Artin Michael Artin (; born 28 June 1934) is a German-American mathematician and a professor emeritus in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology mathematics department, known for his contributions to algebraic geometry.Ronald Graham (1993–94) * Cathleen Morawetz (1995–96) * Arthur Jaffe (1997–98) * Felix Browder (1999–2000)


2001–present

* Hyman Bass (2001–02) *
David Eisenbud David Eisenbud (born 8 April 1947 in New York City) is an American mathematician. He is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley and Director of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI); he previously serve ...
(2003–04) * James Arthur (2005–06) * James Glimm (2007–08) * George E. Andrews (2009–10) * Eric M. Friedlander (2011–12) *
David Vogan David Alexander Vogan, Jr. (born September 8, 1954) is a mathematician at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who works on unitary representations of simple Lie groups. While studying at the University of Chicago, he became a Putnam Fellow ...
(2013–14) * Robert L. Bryant (2015–16) *
Ken Ribet Kenneth Alan Ribet (; born June 28, 1948) is an American mathematician working in algebraic number theory and algebraic geometry. He is known for the Herbrand–Ribet theorem and Ribet's theorem, which were key ingredients in the proof of Fe ...
(2017–18) * Jill Pipher (2019–20) *
Ruth Charney Ruth Michele Charney (born 1950) is an American mathematician known for her work in geometric group theory and Artin groups. Other areas of research include K-theory and algebraic topology. She holds the Theodore and Evelyn G. Berenson Chair in M ...
(2021–22)


See also

*
Canadian Mathematical Society The Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS) (french: Société mathématique du Canada) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research, outreach, scholarship and education in Canada. It serves the ...
*
Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...
* European Mathematical Society *
London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh Mathematical ...
* List of mathematical societies


References


External links

*
MacTutor: The American Mathematical Society
{{Coord, 41.8372, -71.4123, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-RI, display=title Organizations established in 1888 Mathematical societies 1888 establishments in New York (state) 1951 establishments in Rhode Island Organizations based in Providence, Rhode Island