Percey Franklyn Smith (21 August 1867 – 1956) 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

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

of mathematics at

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

. Smith was born in Nyack, New York. He studied mathematics at Sheffield Scientific School of Yale college, finishing the regular course in 1888 and receiving the

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in 1891. Starting in 1888 he was instructor for mathematics in Yale until 1894, followed by academic studies in

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and

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at the universities of

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. After returning to Yale in 1896 he was assistant professor of mathematics until 1900, then professor until 1936. He wrote several papers related to

Lie sphere geometry Lie sphere geometry is a geometrical theory of planar or spatial geometry in which the fundamental concept is the circle or sphere. It was introduced by Sophus Lie in the nineteenth century. The main idea which leads to Lie sphere geometry is tha ...

, and is the author of several textbooks such as ''The elements of analytic geometry'' (1904), ''New analytic geometry'' (1912), ''Theoretical mechanics'' (1910). The title "Percey F. Smith Professor of Mathematics" is still used in Yale.Van Ha Vu is appointed the Percey F. Smith Professorship of Mathematics
/ref> He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Publications (selection)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Percey Franklyn 19th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians 1867 births 1956 deaths Yale University alumni Yale University faculty People from Nyack, New York Mathematicians from New York (state)