Howard Whitley Eves (10 January 1911,

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– 6 June 2004) was an American mathematician, known for his work in

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

and 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 ...

. Eves received his B.S. from the

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, an M.A. from

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 higher le ...

, and a Ph.D. in mathematics from

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in 1948, the last with a dissertation titled ''A Class of Projective Space Curves'' written under Ingomar Hostetter. He then spent most of his career at the

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, 1954–1976. In later life, he occasionally taught at

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. Eves was a strong spokesman for the

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 ...

, which he joined in 1942, and whose Northeast Section he founded. For 25 years he edited the Elementary Problems section of the ''

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''. He solved over 300 problems proposed in various mathematical journals. His six volume ''Mathematical Circles'' series, collecting humorous and interesting anecdotes about mathematicians, was recently reprinted by the MAA, who also published his two volume ''Great Moments in the History of Mathematics'', and his autobiographical ''Mathematical Reminiscences'' in 2001. Eves had six children.

Books by Eves

*1953. ''Introduction to the History of Mathematics'', New York, RinehartLibrary of Congress Online Catalog BIBLD=8849652
/ref> *1966. ''Functions of a Complex Variable'', v. 1, Boston: Prindle, Weber & Schmidt *1966. ''Elementary matrix theory'', Boston: Allyn and Bacon eprint: 1980. Dover Publications.*1972. ''Survey of Geometry'' in 2 vols, 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.