Nationality Canada, USA Role Mathematician | Name Raymond Archibald Fields History of mathematics | |
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Born 7 October 1875
South Branch, Stewiacke, Nova Scotia, Canada ( 1875-10-07 ) Institutions Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island Thesis The Cardioide and Some of its Related Curves Known for History of Mathematical Tables Influences David Eugene Smith, Gosta Mittag-Leffler Died July 26, 1955, Sackville, Canada Books A semicentennial history of the American Mathematical society, 1888-1938 Influenced by David Eugene Smith, Gosta Mittag-Leffler People also search for Henry Parker Manning, Arnold Buffum Chace, Theodor Reye | ||
Alma mater University of Strasbourg Doctoral advisor Karl Theodor Reye | ||
Raymond Clare Archibald (7 October 1875 – 26 July 1955) was a prominent Canadian-American mathematician. He is known for his work as a historian of mathematics, his editorships of mathematical journals and his contributions to the teaching of mathematics.
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Biography
Raymond Clare Archibald was born in South Branch, Stewiacke, Nova Scotia on 7 October 1875. He was the son of Abram Newcomb Archibald (1849—1883) and Mary Mellish Archibald (1849—1901). He was the fourth cousin twice removed of the famous Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician Simon Newcomb (1835—1909).
Archibald graduated in 1894 from Mount Allison College with B.A. degree in mathematics and teacher's certificate in violin. After teaching mathematics and violin for a year at the Mount Allison Ladies’ College he went to Harvard where he received a B.A. 1896 and a M.A. in 1897. He then traveled to Europe where he attended the University of Berlin during 1898 and received a Ph.D.cum laude from the University of Strassburg in 1900. His advisor was Karl Theodor Reye and title of his dissertation was The Cardioide and Some of its Related Curves.
He returned to Canada in 1900 and taught mathematics and violin at the Mount Allison Ladies’ College until 1907. After a one-year appointment at Acadia University he accepted an invitation of join the mathematics department at Brown University. He stayed at Brown for the rest of his career becoming a Professor Emeritus in 1943. While at Brown he created one of the finest mathematical libraries in the western hemisphere.
Archibald returned to Mount Allison in 1954 to curate the Mary Mellish Archibald Memorial Library, the library he had founded in 1905 to honor his mother. At his death the library contained 23,000 volumes, 2,700 records, and 70,000 songs in American and English poetry and drama.
Raymond Clare Archibald was a world-renowned historian of mathematics with a lifelong concern for the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools. At the presentation of his portrait to Brown University the head of the mathematics department, Professor Clarence Raymond Adams (1898–1965) said of him:
"The instincts of the bibliophile were also his from early years. Possessing a passion for accurate detail, systematic by nature and blessed with a memory that was the marvel of his friends, he gradually acquired a knowledge of mathematical books and their values which has scarcely been equalled. This knowledge and an untiring energy he dedicated to the upbuilding of the mathematical library at Brown University. From modest beginnings he has developed this essential equipment of the mathematical investigator to a point where it has no superior, in completeness and in convenience for the user."
Honors
Archibald received honorary degrees from the University of Padua (LL.D., 1922), Mount Allison University (LL.D., 1923) and from Brown University (M.A. ad eundem, 1943).