Eric Temple Bell (7 February 1883 – 21 December 1960) was a Scottish-born

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 ...

and

science fiction writer This is a list of noted science-fiction authors (in alphabetical order): A *Dafydd ab Hugh (born 1960) *Alexander Abasheli (1884–1954) *Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926) *Kōbō Abe (1924–1993) *Robert Abernathy (1924–1990) *Dan Abne ...

who lived in the United States for most of his life. He published non-fiction using his given name and fiction as John Taine.

Early life and education

Eric Temple Bell was born in Peterhead,

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Scotland as third of three children to Helen Jane Lyall and James Bell Jr. His father, a factor, relocated to

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, in 1884, when Eric was fifteen months old. After his father died on 4 January 1896, the family returned to

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

, England. Bell was educated at Bedford Modern School, where his teacher Edward Mann Langley inspired him to continue the study of mathematics. Bell returned to the United States, by way of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, in 1902. He received degrees from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

(1904), the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

(1908), and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

(1912) (where he was a student of Cassius Jackson Keyser).

Career

Bell was part of the faculty first at the University of Washington and later at the California Institute of Technology. While at the University of Washington, he taught

Howard P. Robertson Howard Percy "Bob" Robertson (January 27, 1903 – August 26, 1961) was an American mathematician and physicist known for contributions related to physical cosmology and the uncertainty principle. He was Professor of Mathematical Physics at the C ...

and encouraged him to enroll at Cal Tech for his doctoral studies. Bell researched

number theory Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and arithmetic function, integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777� ...

; see in particular

Bell series In mathematics, the Bell series is a formal power series used to study properties of arithmetical functions. Bell series were introduced and developed by Eric Temple Bell. Given an arithmetic function f and a prime p, define the formal power seri ...

. He attempted—not altogether successfully—to make the traditional

umbral calculus In mathematics before the 1970s, the term umbral calculus referred to the surprising similarity between seemingly unrelated polynomial equations and certain "shadowy" techniques used to "prove" them. These techniques were introduced by John Blis ...

(understood at that time to be the same thing as the "symbolic method" of Blissard) logically rigorous. He also did much work using

generating function In mathematics, a generating function is a way of encoding an infinite sequence of numbers () by treating them as the coefficients of a formal power series. This series is called the generating function of the sequence. Unlike an ordinary seri ...

s, treated as formal

power series In mathematics, a power series (in one variable) is an infinite series of the form \sum_^\infty a_n \left(x - c\right)^n = a_0 + a_1 (x - c) + a_2 (x - c)^2 + \dots where ''an'' represents the coefficient of the ''n''th term and ''c'' is a const ...

, without concern for convergence. He is the eponym of the

Bell polynomials In combinatorial mathematics, the Bell polynomials, named in honor of Eric Temple Bell, are used in the study of set partitions. They are related to Stirling and Bell numbers. They also occur in many applications, such as in the Faà di Bruno's fo ...

and the Bell numbers of

combinatorics Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and an end in obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many appl ...

. In 1924 Bell was awarded the Bôcher Memorial Prize for his work in

mathematical analysis Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions, limit (mathematics), limits, and related theories, such as Derivative, differentiation, Integral, integration, measure (mathematics), measure, infinite sequences, series (m ...

. In 1927, he was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

. He died in 1960 in Watsonville, California.

Work

Fiction and poetry

During the early 1920s, Bell wrote several long poems. He also wrote several

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novels, which independently invented some of the earliest devices and ideas of science fiction. Only the novel ''The Purple Sapphire'' was published at the time, using the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

John Taine; this was before Hugo Gernsback and the ''genre'' publication of science fiction. His novels were published later, both in book form and serialised in magazines. Basil Davenport, writing in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', described Taine as "one of the first real scientists to write science-fiction hodid much to bring it out of the interplanetary cops-and-robbers stage." But he concluded that "

aine Aine may refer to: * Áine Áine () is an Irish goddess of summer, wealth and sovereignty. She is associated with midsummer and the sun,MacKillop, James (1998) ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology'' Oxford: Oxford University Press pp.10, 16, 12 ...

is sadly lacking as a novelist, in style and especially in characterization."

Writing about mathematics

Bell wrote a book of biographical essays titled ''

Men of Mathematics ''Men of Mathematics: The Lives and Achievements of the Great Mathematicians from Zeno to Poincaré'' is a book on the history of mathematics published in 1937 by Scottish-born American mathematician and science fiction writer E. T. Bell (1883� ...

'' (one chapter of which was the first popular account of the 19th century mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya), which is still in print. He originally wrote it under the title ''The Lives of Mathematicians'', but the publishers, Simon and Schuster, cut about a third of it (125,000 words), and, in order to tie in with their book ''Men of Art'' (by

Thomas Craven Thomas Craven (January 6, 1888 – February 27, 1969) was an American author, critic and lecturer, who promoted the work of American Regionalist painters, Thomas Hart Benton, John Steuart Curry and Grant Wood, among others. He was known for h ...

), gave it the title ''Men of Mathematics'' which he did not like.Reid, pp. 276–277 The book inspired notable mathematicians including Julia Robinson,

John Forbes Nash, Jr. John Forbes Nash Jr. (June 13, 1928 – May 23, 2015) was an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory, real algebraic geometry, differential geometry, and partial differential equations. Nash and fellow ga ...

, and Andrew Wiles to begin a career in mathematics. However, historians of mathematics have disputed the accuracy of much of Bell's history. In fact, Bell does not distinguish carefully between anecdote and history. He has been much criticized for romanticizing

Évariste Galois Évariste Galois (; ; 25 October 1811 – 31 May 1832) was a French mathematician and political activist. While still in his teens, he was able to determine a necessary and sufficient condition for a polynomial to be solvable by radicals, ...

. For example: " . T.Bell's account

f Galois's life F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...

by far the most famous, is also the most fictitious." His treatment of

Georg Cantor Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor ( , ; – January 6, 1918) was a German mathematician. He played a pivotal role in the creation of set theory, which has become a fundamental theory in mathematics. Cantor established the importance of ...

, which reduced Cantor's relationships with his father and with Leopold Kronecker to stereotypes, has been criticized even more severely. While this book was under printing, he also wrote and had published another book, ''The Handmaiden of the Sciences''. Bell's later book ''Development of Mathematics'' has been less famous, but his biographer Constance Reid finds it has fewer weaknesses. His book on Fermat's Last Theorem, ''The Last Problem'', was published the year after his death and is a hybrid of social history and the history of mathematics. It inspired mathematician Andrew Wiles to solve the problem.

Non-fiction books

* ''An Arithmetical Theory of Certain Numerical Functions'', Seattle Washington, The University, 1915, 50p
PDF/DjVu copy
from

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

.
'' The Cyclotomic Quinary Quintic''
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, The New Era Printing Company, 1912, 97p. * ''Algebraic Arithmetic'', New York, American Mathematical Society, 1927, 180p. * ''Debunking Science'', Seattle, University of Washington book store, 1930, 40p.
''The Queen of the Sciences''
Stechert, 1931, 138p. * ''Numerology'', Baltimore: The Williams & Wilkins Co., 1933, 187p. ** Reprint: Westport, CT: Hyperion Press, 1979, , 187p. – "Reprint of the ed. published by Century Co., New York" * ''The Search for Truth'', Baltimore, Reynal and Hitchcock, 1934, 279p. ** Reprint: Williams and Wilkins Co, 1935
''The Handmaiden of the Sciences''

Williams & Wilkins Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW) is an American imprint of the American Dutch publishing conglomerate Wolters Kluwer. It was established by the acquisition of Williams & Wilkins and its merger with J.B. Lippincott Company in 1998. Under the LWW ...

, 1937, 216p. * ''Man and His Lifebelts'', New York, Reynal & Hitchcock, 1938, 340p. ** Reprint: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1935, 2nd printing 1946 ** Reprint: Kessinger Publishing, 2005 * ''

'', New York, Simon & Schuster, 1937, 592p. ** Reprint: Touchstone (Simon & Schuster paperback), 1986. * ''The Development of Mathematics'', New York, McGraw–Hill, 1940, 637p. **Second Edition: New York, McGraw–Hill, 1945, 637p. **Reprint: Dover Publications, 1992 * ''The Magic of Numbers'', Whittlesey House, 1946, 418p. **Reprint: New York,

Dover Publications Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books ...

, 1991, , 418p. **Reprint: Sacred Science Institute, 2006 * ''Mathematics: Queen and Servant of Science'',

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

, 1951, 437p. * ''The Last Problem'', New York,

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, 1961, 308p. ** Reprint:

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 ...

, 1990, , 326p.

Scholarly papers

* "Arithmetical paraphrases". In: ''Transactions of the American Mathematical Society'' 22, 1921
pp. 1–30
an
198–219

"Arithmetical equivalents for a remarkable identity between theta functions"
In: ''Mathematische Zeitschrift'' 13, 1922, pp. 146–152
"Existence theorems on the numbers of representations of odd integers as sums of 4''t'' + 2 squares"
In: ''Crelles Journal'' 163, 1930, pp. 65–70 * "Exponential numbers". In: ''The American Mathematical Monthly'' 41, 1934, pp. 411–419

Novels

* ''The Purple Sapphire'' (1924) * ''The Gold Tooth'' (1927) * ''Quayle's Invention'' (1927) * ''

Green Fire ''Green Fire'' is a 1954 American CinemaScope and Eastmancolor adventure drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed by Andrew Marton and produced by Armand Deutsch, with original music by Miklós Rózsa. The picture stars Grac ...

'' (1928) * ''The Greatest Adventure'' (1929) * ''

The Iron Star ''The Iron Star'' is a science fiction novel by American writer John Taine (pseudonym of Eric Temple Bell). It was first published in 1930 by E. P. Dutton. Plot introduction The novel concerns an African expedition. Swain, a member of the exped ...

'' (1930) * ''The White Lily'' (1930) * '' The Time Stream'' (1931) * '' Seeds of Life'' (1931) * '' Before the Dawn'' (1934) * ''Tomorrow'' (1939) * '' The Forbidden Garden'' (1947) * '' The Cosmic Geoids and One Other'' (1949) * '' The Crystal Horde'' (1952) * ''

G.O.G. 666 ''G.O.G. 666'' is a science fiction novel by author John Taine (pseudonym of Eric Temple Bell). It was first published in 1954 by Fantasy Press in an edition of 1,815 copies. Plot introduction The novel concerns Russian genetics experiments resu ...

'' (1954)

Poetry

* ''The Singer'' (1916)

References

Sources

* Reid, Constance (1993). ''The Search for E. T. Bell, Also Known as John Taine''. Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America. x + 372 pp. . . * Rothman, T. (1982). "Genius and biographers: the fictionalization of Evariste Galois". ''American Mathematics Monthly'' 89, no. 2, 84–106.

External links

Biographical sketch by Constance Reid
* * *

* * (distinct from Bell) * (distinct from Taine)
Author profile
in the database zbMATH {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Eric Temple 1883 births 1960 deaths People educated at Bedford Modern School 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American mathematicians American science fiction writers Scottish science fiction writers American historians of mathematics Scottish expatriates in the United States Scottish mathematicians Combinatorialists Mathematics popularizers Presidents of the Mathematical Association of America 20th-century Scottish writers American male novelists Stanford University alumni University of Washington alumni Columbia University alumni University of Washington faculty California Institute of Technology faculty People from Peterhead People from Watsonville, California Scottish novelists Novelists from California Novelists from Washington (state) Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences