Francis Begnaud Hildebrand (1915 – 29 November 2002) was an American

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 ...

. He was a Professor of mathematics at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) from 1940 until 1984. Hildebrand was known for his many influential textbooks in mathematics and

numerical analysis Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic computation, symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical analysis (as distinguished from discrete mathematics). It is the study of ...

Education and career

Hildebrand received his bachelor's degree in 1936 and a master's degree in 1938 from

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries to ...

, both in mathematics. He then received his Ph.D. degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1940 under the supervision of

Prescott Durand Crout Prescott Durand Crout (July 28, 1907 – September 25, 1984) was an American mathematician. Crout was born in Ohio, but lived and worked in Massachusetts. In 1929 he finished the MIT class. His PhD thesis (supervisor: George Rutledge) was enti ...

. He also received an honorary doctorate from Washington and Jefferson College in 1969. During World War II, he worked for two years in the

Radiation Laboratory The Radiation Laboratory, commonly called the Rad Lab, was a microwave and radar research laboratory located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was first created in October 1940 and operated until 31 ...

. At MIT, he taught 18.075 and 18.076, the classes on advanced calculus for engineering students. The big green textbook from these classes (originally ''Advanced Calculus for Engineers'', later ''Advanced Calculus for Applications'') was a fixture in engineers' offices for decades.

Books

Hildebrand had authored many influential textbooks in mathematics, including *''Advanced Calculus for Engineers'',

Prentice Hall Prentice Hall was an American major educational publisher owned by Savvas Learning Company. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market, and distributes its technical titles through the Safari B ...

, 1948. *''Methods of Applied Mathematics'', Prentice Hall, 1952. *''Advanced Calculus for Applications'', Prentice Hall, 1964. *''Introduction to Numerical Analysis'', 2 ed.,

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 ...

, 1987 (First edition in 1956).

References

External links

* 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Washington & Jefferson College alumni 1915 births 2002 deaths {{US-mathematician-stub