Julian Lowell Coolidge (September 28, 1873 – March 5, 1954) 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 ...

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

and chairman of the

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Mathematics Department.

Biography

Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, he graduated from

and

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

. Between 1897 and 1899 Julian Coolidge taught at the Groton School where one of his students was

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

. He left the private school to accept a teaching position at Harvard and in 1902 was given an assistant professorship, but took two years off to further his education with studies in

Turin, Italy Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

before receiving his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

from the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...

. Julian Coolidge then returned to teach at Harvard where he remained for his entire academic career, interrupted only by a year at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in Paris as an exchange professor. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served with the U.S. Army's Overseas Expeditionary Force in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, rising to the rank of major. In 1919, he was awarded a

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

of France's Legion of Honor. Coolidge returned to teach at Harvard where he was awarded a full professorship. In 1927 he was appointed chairman of the Mathematics Department at Harvard, a position he held until his retirement in 1940. A Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

, Coolidge served as president of the Mathematical Association of America and vice-president of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

. He authored several books on mathematics and on the

history of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments ...

. He was Master of Lowell House (one of Harvard's undergraduate residences) from 1930 to 1940. Coolidge died in 1954 in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

, aged 80.

Writings

*J. L. Coolidge (1909
''The elements of non-Euclidean geometry''

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. *J. L. Coolidge (1916) '' A Treatise on the Circle and the Sphere'',

. *J. L. Coolidge (1924) ''The geometry of the complex domain'',

The Clarendon Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. *J. L. Coolidge (1925) ''An introduction to mathematical probability'',

. *J. L. Coolidge (1931) ''A Treatise on Algebraic Plane Curves'',

(

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, book ...

2004). *J. L. Coolidge (1940) ''A history of geometrical methods'',

(

2003). *J. L. Coolidge (1945) ''History of the conic sections and quadric surfaces'',

. *J. L. Coolidge (1949
''The Mathematics Of Great Amateurs''

(

1963).

References

External links

* *
Coolidge: "Origin of Polar Coordinates" (from MacTutor)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coolidge, Julian 1873 births 1954 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American historians of mathematics United States Army personnel of World War I University of Paris alumni University of Bonn alumni Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty Recipients of the Legion of Honour Presidents of the Mathematical Association of America People from Cambridge, Massachusetts People from Brookline, Massachusetts American expatriates in France

Biography

Writings

See also

References

External links