Horace Chandler Davis (August 12, 1926 – September 24, 2022) was an American-Canadian mathematician, writer, educator, and left-wing political activist. The socialist magazine ''

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

'' described Davis as "an internationally esteemed mathematician, a minor science fiction writer of note, and among the most celebrated political prisoners in the United States during the years of the high Cold War."

Background

Horace Chandler Davis, known as "Chan" by friends, was born on August 12, 1926, in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

, to parents Horace Bancroft Davis and Marian Rubins, both members of the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

(CPUSA). He joined the

Young Pioneers of America The Young Pioneers of America or Young Pioneers League of America was a children's organization affiliated with the Communist Party USA, under its various names, from 1922 to 1934. It began as the Junior Section of the Young Workers League of Ame ...

while in elementary school. Because of their politics, his parents moved frequently, so that Davis spent a year of his childhood in Brazil. In 1942, age 16, he received a Harvard National Scholarship. At Harvard, he joined the Astounding Science-Fiction Fanclub, whose members included John B. Michel,

Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American list of science fiction authors, science-fiction writer, editor, and science fiction fandom, fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first ...

Isaac Asimov Isaac Asimov ( ; – April 6, 1992) was an Russian-born American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. H ...

, and

Donald Wollheim Donald Allen Wollheim (October 1, 1914 – November 2, 1990) was an American science fiction editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell, Martin Pears ...

. In 1943, Davis joined the

but left soon after so he could join the US Navy for officers training. In 1945, Davis graduated Harvard early and also received a commission from Naval Reserve Midshipman's School and spent a year in the US Navy as a minesweeper. In 1946, he returned to Harvard as a graduate student in Mathematics, rejoined the CPUSA, and joined the Federation of American Scientists, founded by former members of the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...

. In 1948, he supported

Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was the 33rd vice president of the United States, serving from 1941 to 1945, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served as the 11th U.S. secretary of agriculture and the 10th U.S ...

, Progressive Party candidate for the

1948 United States presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 1948. The Democratic ticket of incumbent President Harry S. Truman and Senator Alben Barkley defeated the Republican ticket of New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey and Californ ...

. In 1950, Davis received a doctorate in Mathematics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Career

In 1950, Davis turned down an offer from the

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

(UCLA) due to loyalty oath requirements and accepted a position as instructor at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

(UM). Davis left the CPUSA the following year. In 1953, Davis received a subpoena to appear before the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...

(HUAC). In 1954, UM suspended Davis, Clement Markert, and Mark Nickerson for refusing to cooperate with HUAC hearings held in Lansing, Michigan. Makert and Nickerson pled under the Fifth Amendment (right to avoid self-incrimination), while Davis pled the

First Amendment First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

(right to free speech). He hoped to establish a precedent that HUAC could not question witnesses on their political affiliations, but the US Supreme Court in 1959 refused to hear his case. After years of appeals, in 1960, Davis received a six-month jail sentence, served at a prison in Danbury, Connecticut. In 1962, Davis accepted a teaching position at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. He specialized in algebra and operator theory (a branch of functional analysis). In 1968, the

Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia On 20–21 August 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four fellow Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Republic of Bulgaria, and the Hungarian People's Republic. The ...

ended Davis' CPUSA membership for good. He remained a political activist. For example, in 1971, he traveled to

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...

with other mathematicians including

Laurent Schwartz Laurent-Moïse Schwartz (; 5 March 1915 – 4 July 2002) was a French mathematician. He pioneered the theory of Distribution (mathematics), distributions, which gives a well-defined meaning to objects such as the Dirac delta function. He was awar ...

. He also was an advocate for Palestinian rights. In July 2022, he publicly supported Russian mathematician Azat Miftakhov.

Mathematics

Davis' principal research investigations involved

linear algebra Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerning linear equations such as :a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n=b, linear maps such as :(x_1, \ldots, x_n) \mapsto a_1x_1+\cdots +a_nx_n, and their representations in vector spaces and through matrix (mathemat ...

and

operator theory In mathematics, operator theory is the study of linear operators on function spaces, beginning with differential operators and integral operators. The operators may be presented abstractly by their characteristics, such as bounded linear operato ...

Hilbert space In mathematics, a Hilbert space is a real number, real or complex number, complex inner product space that is also a complete metric space with respect to the metric induced by the inner product. It generalizes the notion of Euclidean space. The ...

s. Furthermore, he made contributions to

numerical analysis Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic computation, symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical analysis (as distinguished from discrete mathematics). It is the study of ...

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

, and

algebraic logic In mathematical logic, algebraic logic is the reasoning obtained by manipulating equations with Free variables and bound variables, free variables. What is now usually called classical algebraic logic focuses on the identification and algebraic de ...

. He is one of the eponyms of the Davis–Kahan theorem and Bhatia–Davis inequality (along with Rajendra Bhatia). The Davis–Kahan–Weinberger dilation theorem is one of the landmark results in the dilation theory of Hilbert space operators and has found applications in many different areas. A PhD thesis titled "Backward Perturbation and Sensitivity Analysis of Structured Polynomial Eigenomial Eigenvalue Problem" is dedicated to this theorem. Davis wrote around eighty research papers in mathematics. Davis was a professor in the mathematics department of

, working alongside Wilfred Kaplan. In the Mathematics Genealogy Project, he is listed as having 15 PhD (1964-2001), and 213 PhD descendants of his former doctoral students, with 107 being of them from his student John Benedetto (PhD 1964). He was one of the co-Editors-in-Chief of the ''

Mathematical Intelligencer ''The Mathematical Intelligencer'' is a mathematical journal published by Springer Science+Business Media that aims at a conversational and scholarly tone, rather than the technical and specialist tone more common among academic journals. Volumes ...

''. In 2012 he became a fellow of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

. He was part of the 2019 class of fellows of the

Association for Women in Mathematics The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) is a professional society whose mission is to encourage women and girls to study and to have active careers in the mathematical sciences, and to promote equal opportunity for and the equal treatment o ...

Fiction

Davis began his writing career in ''

Astounding Science Fiction ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William C ...

'' in 1946. From 1946 through 1962 he produced a spate of science fiction stories, mostly published there. One of the earliest, published May 1946, was ''The Nightmare'', later the lead story in '' A Treasury of Science Fiction'', edited by

Groff Conklin Edward Groff Conklin (September 6, 1904 – July 19, 1968) was an American science fiction anthologist. He edited 40 anthologies of science fiction, one of mystery stories (co-edited with physician Noah Fabricant), wrote books on home improvement ...

; it argued for a national policy of decentralizing industry to evade nuclear attacks by terrorists. He also issued the fanzine "Blitherings" in the 1940s. He attended Torcon I, the 6th

World Science Fiction Convention Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...

in 1948, appeared at the 2010 SFContario

science fiction convention Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction subgenre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of ex ...

, and was Science Guest of Honor at the 2013 SFContario

Politics

Davis came from a radical family and identified himself as a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and former member of the

Communist Party of America The Communist Party USA (CPUSA), officially the Communist Party of the United States of America, also referred to as the American Communist Party mainly during the 20th century, is a communist party in the United States. It was established ...

. Davis—along with two other professors, Mark Nickerson and

Clement Markert Clement Lawrence Markert (April 11, 1917 – October 1, 1999) was an American biologist credited with the discovery of isozymes (different forms of enzymes that catalyze the same reaction). He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences ...

—refused to cooperate with the

House Unamerican Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty an ...

and was subsequently dismissed from the

. Davis was then sentenced to a six-month prison term where he was able to do some research. A paper from this era has the following acknowledgement: The Federal government released Davis from prison in 1960. After his release, Davis moved to Canada, where he worked at the University of Toronto. He also opposed the Vietnam War and was chair of the Toronto Anti-Draft Committee. In 1991, the University of Michigan Senate initiated the annual Davis, Markert, Nickerson Lecture on Academic and Intellectual Freedom. Recent speakers have included:

Cass Sunstein Cass Robert Sunstein (born September 21, 1954) is an American legal scholar known for his work in U.S. constitutional law, administrative law, environmental law, and behavioral economics. He is also ''The New York Times'' best-selling author of ...

(2008),

Nadine Strossen Nadine Strossen (born August 18, 1950) is an American legal scholar and civil liberties activist who served as the president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) from 1991 to 2008. A liberal feminist, she was the first woman to lead the AC ...

(2007),

Bill Keller Bill Keller (born January 18, 1949) is an American journalist. He was the founding editor-in-chief of '' The Marshall Project'', a nonprofit that reports on criminal justice in the United States. Previously, he was a columnist for ''The New Yo ...

(2006), Floyd Abrams (2005), and

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

(2004).

Personal life and death

In 1948, Davis married

Natalie Zemon Davis Natalie Zemon Davis, (November 8, 1928 – October 21, 2023) was an American-Canadian historian of the early modern period. She was the Henry Charles Lea Professor of History at Princeton University. Her work originally focused on France, but ...

(author of the book and co-scriptwriter of the movie '' The Return of Martin Guerre''); they had three children. H. Chandler Davis died on September 24, 2022.

Honors

Three mathematical theorems are named in Davis' honor: the Davis-Kahan theorem on how eigenspaces of an operator change under perturbation; the Bhatia-Davis inequality, bounding the variance of a given probability distribution on the real line; and the Davis–Kahan–Weinberger theorem on norm-preserving dilations of Hilbert space operators. A lecture in honor of his stand for his beliefs is now held at the University of Michigan, which had fired him.

Legacy

At his death, long-time friend

Alan M. Wald Alan Maynard Wald (born June 1, 1946) is an American professor emeritus of English Literature and American Culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and writer of 20th-century American literature who focuses on Communist writers; he is an ...

wrote, "Chan Davis, who died last month at the age of 96, faced down McCarthyite blacklists and imprisonment to pursue a brilliant academic career. Davis knew how to change and learn from political experience, but he always remained loyal to his socialist principles."

Works

;Books Edited * ''Linear Algebra and Its Application'' * ''Geometric Vein: The Coxeter Festschrift'' with Branko Grünbaum * ''Coxeter Legacy: Reflections and Projections'' with Erich W. Ellers (2006) * ''Shape of Content: Creative Writing in Mathematics and Science'' with Marjorie Wikler Senechal and Jan Zwicky (2008) ;Poetry * ''Having Come This Far'' (1986) ;Prose * ''It Walks in Beauty: Selected Prose of Chandler Davis'' (2010) ;Journals Edited * ''

The Mathematical Intelligencer ''The Mathematical Intelligencer'' is a mathematical journal published by Springer Science+Business Media that aims at a conversational and scholarly tone, rather than the technical and specialist tone more common among academic journals. Volumes ...

References

External sources

Biography
at the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a j ...

's Department of Mathematics & Statistics *
Davis, Markert, Nickerson Lecture Series on Academic and Intellectual Freedom
*

* ttps://discoverarchives.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/chandler-davis-fonds Chandler Davis archival papersheld at th
University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Chan 1926 births 2022 deaths Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto Canadian mathematicians Fellows of the American Mathematical Society Fellows of the Association for Women in Mathematics Institute for Advanced Study visiting scholars American science fiction writers Canadian science fiction writers 20th-century American mathematicians Canadian socialists American socialists American male short story writers American male novelists University of Michigan faculty 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from Michigan Michigan socialists New York (state) socialists People convicted of contempt of Congress