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Henry Burchard Fine (September 14, 1858 – December 22, 1928) was an American university dean and
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 ...
.


Life and career

Henry Burchard Fine (1858 – 1928) played a critical role in modernizing the American
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and raising American
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“from a state of approximate nullity to one verging on parity with the
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an nations”. This tribute in Oswald Veblen’s
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ee in "Obituary" belowaccurately recognized Fine’s role both in training American mathematicians to provide international leadership to this field and in building Princeton University’s reputation in mathematics and
science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...
. Fine’s efforts contributed greatly toward making Princeton the site of Albert Einstein’s first
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n lectures, and eventually his
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. Fine began his time as a Princeton
undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...
studying
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and
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, but a mathematics
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, George B. Halstead, convinced him to switch his considerable talents to mathematics. He ranked highest academically in his Class of 1880 for all four years, during which he caught the attention of President
James McCosh James McCosh (April 1, 1811 – November 16, 1894) was a philosopher of the Scottish School of Common Sense. He was president of Princeton University 1868–88. Biography McCosh was born into a Covenanting family in Ayrshire, an ...
. As a result, Fine was among a small group of highly talented undergraduates whom McCosh invited to his house for informal
seminar A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some parti ...
s and nurtured as future faculty. After graduation, Fine remained at Princeton (then called the College of
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) for a year of post-graduate work followed by three more years as a tutor. Then, as
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was the leading center of mathematics
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, he went to the
University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...
to study mathematics with
Felix Klein Christian Felix Klein (; 25 April 1849 – 22 June 1925) was a German mathematician and mathematics educator, known for his work with group theory, complex analysis, non-Euclidean geometry, and on the associations between geometry and grou ...
under whom he earned his
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in one year. He returned to Princeton as an Assistant
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of Mathematics in 1885 and soon established himself as a leader in the faculty, ultimately named the Dod Professor of Mathematics in 1898. In addition, his reputation beyond Princeton grew through publications and his role as one of the founding members 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, meeting ...
. However, it was reviving his undergraduate friendship with
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
(Class of 1879) that led to his subsequent impact on Princeton and American scholarship. Fine, (Class of 1880), one year behind Wilson, assisted him as a junior and then succeeded him as Managing Editor of the " Princetonian", the campus’ student newspaper. When Wilson joined the Princeton faculty in 1890 their relationship resumed, beginning a close and consequential lifelong friendship. After McCosh’s retirement in 1888, the College of New Jersey’s new President,
Francis Landey Patton Francis Landey Patton (January 22, 1843 – November 25, 1932) was a Bermudan-American educator, Presbyterian minister, academic administrator, and theologian, and served as the twelfth president of Princeton University. Background, 1843–1871 ...
, was satisfied to preside over what he called "the best
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" in the country. However, the young faculty whom McCosh had nurtured, including Fine, and their allies on the Board of Trustees grew restive and pushed him out in favor of Wilson in 1902. Wilson quickly chose Fine to be his right-hand man as the Dean of the College. They set about transforming Princeton by raising academic standards, revising the
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, and replacing several senior faculty members. Wilson also convinced the Trustees to hire 50 new young faculty members he called ‘preceptors’. The addition of this large number of young, enthusiastic junior faculty had a significant impact on the quality, focus and seriousness of Princeton at both the undergraduate and graduate school levels. Because Wilson lacked interest in science and mathematics, he delegated the preceptor appointments to Fine, giving him the opportunity to transform Princeton’s programs in those fields. Fine had an extraordinary ability to identify talented individuals in these fields and a commitment to promoting their careers. His initial preceptorial appointments all went on to become respected mathematicians and when some vacancies developed, he replaced them with similar young talent. He also recruited established
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and European mathematicians. By 1911, Princeton’s Department of Mathematics ranked as one of the top three in America and had become the home of the prestigious
Annals of Mathematics The ''Annals of Mathematics'' is a mathematical journal published every two months by Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. History The journal was established as ''The Analyst'' in 1874 and with Joel E. Hendricks as th ...
. In addition, Fine jump-started Princeton’s weak science departments by recruiting some leading scientists, including mathematical physicist James Jean

physicist Owen Wilnans Richardson
Owen Willans Richardson Sir Owen Willans Richardson, FRS (26 April 1879 – 15 February 1959) was a British physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1928 for his work on thermionic emission, which led to Richardson's law. Biography Richardson was born in Dew ...
, and biologist Edwin Grant Conklin Edwin Conklin. Fine also nurtured younger scientists such as astronomer Henry Norris Russell. Fine’s time was increasingly focused on administration and the controversies that eventually dragged down the Wilson presidency. He and Wilson won one battle, gaining control of the Graduate School from Wilson’s archenemy,
Andrew Fleming West Andrew Fleming West (May 17, 1853 – December 27, 1943) was an American classicist, and first dean of the Graduate School at Princeton University. Biography West was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania on May 17, 1853. He studied at Princeton ...
. While ceremonial leadership remained with West, Fine became the dominant force in turning Princeton into a modern research university. However, Wilson lost his attempt to reduce the influence of Princeton’s undergraduate ‘eating clubs’ and to have the Graduate College constructed in the middle of campus. When Wilson left to enter politics, Fine became acting president in all but name, while also serving as President of the American Mathematical Society. Although Fine had loyally supported Wilson’s losing proposals and was a leading candidate to become president, he then loyally supported President
John Grier Hibben John Grier Hibben (April 19, 1861 – May 16, 1933) was a Presbyterian minister, a philosopher, and educator. He served as president of Princeton University from 1912–1932, succeeding Woodrow Wilson and implementing many of the reforms ...
for the rest of his career. With Hibben’s ascendance, Fine became in reality what he had long been, Dean of the Departments of Science, a position he held until his death 1928. He remained deeply loyal to Princeton, turning down offers of the presidency of M.I.T. and Johns Hopkins University as well as Wilson’s offers to name him Ambassador to Germany and to the Federal Reserve Board. Fine continued teaching, publishing leading textbooks and occasional articles, and building his departments. The Department of Mathematics’ prestige led, in 1921, to it hosting Albert Einstein’s first American lectures. In the 1920s, Fine was particularly successful in raising money from the General Education Board and Rockefeller Foundation to support Princeton’s growing science programs. As a consequence, in the 1920s only the University of Chicago attracted more National Research Council Fellowships and no Princeton application was rejected. Roger Geiger, To Advance Knowledge, (1986), 200-203] In addition to his duties as Dean of Science, Fine served on numerous campus committees, especially chairing the Board of Athletic Control. In the community he served on and chaired the Board of Education for many years. His final gift to Princeton and mathematics was a consequence of his tragic death. His sister had founded Miss Fine’s School and his brother founded Princeton Preparatory School. Bicycling to visit the latter on a dark December evening in 1928 he was struck and killed by a car. In response, his close friend and wealthy Princeton Trustee, Thomas D. Jones, funded construction of Fine Hall, arguably the finest mathematics building in the country. Jones' response to cost overruns was "nothing is too good for Harry Fine." rinceton Alumni Weekly, Oct. 30, 1931 Finished in 1931, Fine Hall also served as the first home of the new Institute of Advanced Stud

and of its most distinguished faculty member, Albert Einstein, until its separate building was completed in 1939. The other founding faculty member, and the person who convinced the funders to situate the IAS in Princeton, was Oswald Veblen, one of Fine’s original preceptors. Although he spent his entire career at one institution, Fine’s career is an important chapter in the emergence of the American university. Whereas he had been drawn to Germany for his PhD in the 1880s, shortly after his death, Princeton University and the Institute of Advanced Study surpassed Göttingen as the world’s center of mathematical physics. And he had played a major role in that transformation. Henry Fine was one of the founders 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, meeting ...
and served as its President in 1911–1912. Among his publications were: * Euclid, Euclid's '' Elements'' (1891) * ''The Number System of
Algebra Algebra () is one of the broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathematics. Elementary ...
'' (1891; second edition, 1903)
PDF/DjVu copy
from
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. * ''A College Algebra'' (1904) * ''Coördinate
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'', with Henry Dallas Thompson (1909
PDF Copy
from
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
Historical Math Collection. * ''Calculus'' (1927)


Obituary

*
Oswald Veblen Oswald Veblen (June 24, 1880 – August 10, 1960) was an American mathematician, geometer and topologist, whose work found application in atomic physics and the theory of relativity. He proved the Jordan curve theorem in 1905; while this wa ...
,
Henry Burchard Fine—In memoriam
', Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 35, (1929), pp. 726–730.


References

* * * * Alexander Leitch, 'A Princeton Companion', (1978) 177-180


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fine, Henry Burchard Princeton University faculty Princeton University alumni Leipzig University alumni American science writers People from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 1858 births 1928 deaths 19th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians Presidents of the American Mathematical Society Mathematicians from Pennsylvania