Kenneth O. May (July 8, 1915, in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

– December 1977, in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

) 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 ...

and

historian 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 ...

, who developed

May's theorem In social choice theory, May's theorem states that simple majority voting is the only anonymous, neutral, and positively responsive social choice function between two alternatives. Further, this procedure is resolute when there are an odd number o ...

. May was a prime mover behind the

International Commission on the History of Mathematics The International Commission on the History of Mathematics was established in 1971 to promote the study of history of mathematics. Kenneth O. May provided its initial impetus. In 1974, its official journal Historia Mathematica began publishing. E ...

, and was the first editor of its journal ''

Historia Mathematica ''Historia Mathematica: International Journal of History of Mathematics'' is an academic journal on the history of mathematics published by Elsevier. It was established by Kenneth O. May in 1971 as the free newsletter ''Notae de Historia Mathemat ...

''. Every four years the ICHM awards the

Kenneth O. May Prize Kenneth O. May Prize and Medal in history of mathematics is an award of the International Commission on the History of Mathematics (ICHM) "for the encouragement and promotion of the history of mathematics internationally". It was established in 19 ...

for outstanding contributions to the history of mathematics.

Biography

Kenneth was born in 1915, the son of Samuel Chester "Sam" May (1887–1955) and Eleanor Ownsworth Perkin. His father, an alumnus of the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

and

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

, practised law in

beginning in 1913. After earning a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree from Columbia University, Sam in 1920 began teaching

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

, and later at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

.C. V. Jones, Philip C. Enros, Henry S. Tropp (1984) "Kenneth O. May, 1915 — 1977, his early life to 1946",

11(4): 359–79 At the University of California, Kenneth May played was elected to

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

as a junior, and studied under Griffith C. Evans. May joined the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

and the

Institute of Pacific Relations The Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR) was an international NGO established in 1925 to provide a forum for discussion of problems and relations between nations of the Pacific Rim. The International Secretariat, the center of most IPR activity ov ...

, of which he served as secretary from 1933. May’s mother died in a gas heater explosion at home in 1935. The following year he was granted the A.B. degree and named to the

Order of the Golden Bear The Order of the Golden Bear (the Order, OGB) is a prominent honor society at the University of California, Berkeley composed of students, faculty, and alumni committed to serving the University of California. Founded in 1900, the Order serves ...

. In 1937 May was granted a master’s degree and was selected by the

Institute of Current World Affairs The Institute of Current World Affairs (ICWA) is an operating foundation established in 1925 by US industrial heir and magnate Charles Richard Crane to advance American understanding of international cultures and affairs by sending young professi ...

for foreign study. He participated in a Russian seminar and expected to study in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, but those plans fell through and he took up study at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. May was married on July 25, 1938. His wife, Ruth, had a leave of absence from her school for study 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, ...

, so the couple studied there for a year. In 1939 they travelled, including to Moscow where May visited the Kharkov Engineering-Economics Institute. Returning to California, May became a teaching assistant, assigned to mathematics of finance and calculus with analytic geometry. May’s work with the communist party led to alienation from his father and dismissal from his job. The affair received attention nationwide and was featured in a

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 d ...

article. In 1942 he ran for

California State Treasurer The state treasurer of California is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of California. Thirty-five individuals have held the office of state treasurer since statehood. The incumbent is Fiona Ma, a ...

under the Communist banner. May's associations with

J. Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is oft ...

were used as evidence in his trial. In World War II May attempted to join up, but until Ruth filed for divorce in June 1942, he could not be drafted. May's unit was sent to

Kiska Kiska ( ale, Qisxa, russian: Кыска) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is required ...

Island in the Aleutian chain. In May 1944, May married Jacqueline Bromley. His career in the military was recounted on page 4 of '' Stars and Stripes'' (Mediterranean Rome) on March 3, 1945. In 1946 May submitted his thesis, ''Mathematical Theory of Employment'' for the Ph.D. He then received a teaching appointment at

Carleton College Carleton College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1866, it had 2,105 undergraduate students and 269 faculty members in fall 2016. The 200-acre main campus is between Northfield and the 800-acre Cowling ...

in Northfield, Minnesota. As a protest against the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, in 1966 May signed a vow of tax resistance. He moved to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

the same year. May is remembered for his ''Bibliography and Research Manual of the History of Mathematics'' (1973) published by

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calen ...

. He made editorial contributions to the

Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics The ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics'' is a translation of the Japanese . The editor of the first and second editions was Shokichi Iyanaga; the editor of the third edition was Kiyosi Itô; the fourth edition was edited by the Mathematical ...

. He managed the compilation of an index for the first 80 volumes of

American Mathematical Monthly ''The American Mathematical Monthly'' is a mathematical journal founded by Benjamin Finkel in 1894. It is published ten times each year by Taylor & Francis for the Mathematical Association of America. The ''American Mathematical Monthly'' is an e ...

and wrote numerous

book review __NOTOC__ A book review is a form of literary criticism in which a book is merely described (summary review) or analyzed based on content, style, and merit. A book review may be a primary source, opinion piece, summary review or scholarly revie ...

s. Philip Enros compiled a bibliography of May’s writings that was published in 1984.Philip C. Enros (1984) "Kenneth O. May — Bibliography", ''Historia Mathematica'' 11: 380 to 893

References

External links

A Brief History of the Kenneth O. May Prize in the History of MathematicsBook in honour of May and his Prize
* {{DEFAULTSORT:May, Kenneth O 1915 births 1977 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American tax resisters American historians of mathematics 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers

Biography

References

Further reading

External links