:''This is about early- and mid-20th-century mathematician. For his mathematician son, active from the mid-20th century, see L. R. Ford Jr.'' Lester Randolph Ford Sr. (October 25, 1886 – November 11, 1967) was an American mathematician, editor of the ''

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 ...

'' from 1942 to 1946, and president of the Mathematical Association of America from 1947 to 1948. Ford circles are named after him. He is the father of L. R. Ford Jr. Ford's first degree,

Bachelor of Pedagogy A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order f ...

, was from a

normal school A normal school or normal college is an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high school level, turni ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. He then attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded ...

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

, graduating with a B. A. in 1911. For graduate work he went to

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 ...

in 1912 and 13. Ford was then called to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, where in 1914 he was instructor of mathematics at

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. Games of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

on campus gave Ford some social contact and reputation. In 1915 Ford published ''An Introduction to the Theory of Automorphic Functions'' as Edinburgh Mathematical Tract # 6. Returning to Harvard in 1917, Ford was awarded his Ph.D. for the thesis ''Rational Approximations to an Irrational Complex Number'', under the supervision of Maxime Bôcher. Later Ford joined the faculty of

Rice Institute The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) is an international agricultural research and training organization with its headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna, in the Philippines, and offices in seventeen countries. IRRI is known for its wo ...

in Houston, Texas. There he married Marguerite Eleanor John on 15 June 1924. Moving north to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, Ford taught at Armour Institute, soon to become Illinois Institute of Technology. From there he went to the editorship of The American Mathematical Monthly during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Ford was president of the Mathematical Association of America for 1947,8. In 1964, the MAA recognised his contribution to mathematics by establishing the Lester R. Ford Awards for authors of articles of expository excellence published in '' The American Mathematical Monthly'' or '' Mathematics Magazine''. (The prize is now known as the Paul R. Halmos – Lester R. Ford Award.Paul R. Halmos - Lester R. Ford Awards
on the website of the Mathematical Association of America.) His doctoral students include

Edwin Beckenbach Edwin Ford Beckenbach (July 18, 1906 – September 5, 1982) was an American mathematician. Biography Beckenbach was born July 18, 1906 in Oak Cliff, Dallas County, Texas, the son of a leather worker and on his father's side the grandson of immi ...

Publications

* 1915
An Introduction to the Theory of Automorphic Functions
via

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 ...

* 1919: ''Elementary Mathematics for Field Artillery'' * 1929: * 1928
Introduction to Differential Equations
via HathiTrust * 1933: ''Differential Equations'', second edition 1955 * 1963: (with his son
Calculus

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 referen ...

via HathiTrust

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, L. R. 20th-century American mathematicians Presidents of the Mathematical Association of America 1886 births 1967 deaths Harvard University alumni Rice University faculty University of Missouri alumni American textbook writers The American Mathematical Monthly editors