Henry Seely White (May 20, 1861 – May 20, 1943) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 ...

. He was born in

Cazenovia, New York Cazenovia is an incorporated town in Madison County, New York. The population was 6,740 at the time of the 2020 census. The town is named after Theophile Cazenove, the ''Agent General'' of the Holland Land Company. The Town of Cazenovia has a v ...

to parents Aaron White and Isadore Maria Haight. He matriculated at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

and graduated with honors in 1882 at the age of twenty-one. White excelled at Wesleyan in astronomy, ethics, Latin, logic, mathematics, and philosophy. At the university,

John Monroe Van Vleck John Monroe Van Vleck (March 4, 1833 – November 4, 1912) was an American mathematician and astronomer. He taught astronomy and mathematics at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut for more than 50 years (1853-1912), and served as act ...

taught White mathematics and astronomy. Later, Van Vleck persuaded White to continue to study mathematics at the graduate level. Subsequently, White studied at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

under Klein, and received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

in 1891. White was Mathematics Department Chair at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

. He left Northwestern to be near his ill mother and became Chairman of the Mathematics Department at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

. He "attributed his interest in geometry both to his work at Wesleyan and Goettingen and to summers spent working on his grandfather's farm." His particular interests were in the fields of the geometry of curves and surfaces (

curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line, but that does not have to be straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that ...

differential geometry of surfaces In mathematics, the differential geometry of surfaces deals with the differential geometry of smooth surfaces with various additional structures, most often, a Riemannian metric. Surfaces have been extensively studied from various perspective ...

), algebraic planes and twisted curves (

algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics, classically studying zeros of multivariate polynomials. Modern algebraic geometry is based on the use of abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, for solving geometrical ...

algebraic curves In mathematics, an affine algebraic plane curve is the zero set of a polynomial in two variables. A projective algebraic plane curve is the zero set in a projective plane of a homogeneous polynomial in three variables. An affine algebraic pl ...

, twisted curves),

homeomorphic In the mathematical field of topology, a homeomorphism, topological isomorphism, or bicontinuous function is a bijective and continuous function between topological spaces that has a continuous inverse function. Homeomorphisms are the isomor ...

sets of lines in a plane ( line coordinates), the theory of invariants, relativity in mechanics, and correspondences. In 1915 White was elected a Fellow of the

United States National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the N ...

. Northwestern conferred upon him an LL.D. in the same year. At the time of its 100th anniversary in 1932, Wesleyan conferred upon him a

D.Sc. Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

Writings

* ''Linear systems of curves on algebraic surfaces'' in
The Boston colloquium: lectures on mathematics delivered from September 2 to 5, 1903, before members of the American mathematical society
', edited by Thomas Scott Fiske and William Fogg Osgood p. 1 (American Mathematical Society, 1903) *

Obituary

* Hy

External links

* * 1861 births 1918 deaths 19th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians Wesleyan University alumni University of Göttingen alumni People from Cazenovia, New York Northwestern University faculty Vassar College faculty Presidents of the American Mathematical Society Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Mathematicians from New York (state) {{US-mathematician-stub