Boyd Crumrine Patterson 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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and the ninth president of

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania, United States. The college traces its origin to three Presbyterian m ...

Life and career

Patterson was born in

McKeesport, Pennsylvania McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. A suburb of Pittsburgh, it is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. History Early history ...

, on April 23, 1902, and graduated from Washington and Jefferson College in 1923, completing his studies in three years. He was a member of the well-known Crumrine family of Washington County and a third-generation W&J graduate. His father, John P. Patterson, was a member of W&J's class of 1885; his grandfather, Boyd Crumrine, a noted local historian, was in Jefferson College's class of 1860. He was also a member of the

Phi Kappa Psi Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in 1852. The fraternity has over ninety chapters at accredited four-year colleges and uni ...

fraternity. For graduate study, Boyd went to

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

where he studied

inversive geometry In geometry, inversive geometry is the study of ''inversion'', a transformation of the Euclidean plane that maps circles or lines to other circles or lines and that preserves the angles between crossing curves. Many difficult problems in geometry ...

with

Frank Morley Frank Morley (September 9, 1860 – October 17, 1937) was a leading mathematician, known mostly for his teaching and research in the fields of algebra and geometry. Among his mathematical accomplishments was the discovery and proof of the celeb ...

. In 1926, he wrote a dissertation "Differential Invariants of Inversive Geometry" for his doctoral degree. Patterson returned to Washington & Jefferson College as a member of the faculty from 1926 to 1927 before taking a mathematics professorship at

Hamilton College Hamilton College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Clinton, Oneida County, New York, Clinton, New York. It was established as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy in 1793 and received its c ...

. Continuing to collaborate with Morley, they co-wrote a paper on algebraic inversive invariants in 1930. In 1943, Patterson became the chair of the mathematics department at Hamilton. In 1950, he returned to W&J to assume its presidency. In that position, he oversaw curriculum revisions, updated admissions standards, and generally enhanced Washington and Jefferson's reputation. All told, 17 buildings were constructed during Patterson's tenure, including the

Phi Gamma Delta Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Phi Gam and sometimes written as FIJI, is a North American social fraternity with 139 active chapters and 13 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania ...

fraternity House, the Wilbur F. Henry Memorial Physical Education Center, ten

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

housing units in the center of campus, the U. Grant Miller Library, the Student Center, the Commons, and two new dormitories. The athletic fields also were improved. In 1952, the college's two war surplus barracks, Washington Hall and Jefferson Hall, were dismantled. During his presidency, the college's endowment expanded from $2.3 million to nearly $11 million. On December 12, 1969, the Board of Trustees authorized the admission of women as undergraduate students, to be effective in September 1970. Dr. Patterson retired on June 30, 1970. He died of a stroke on July 12, 1988, in his home in

Clinton, New York Clinton, New York may refer to: *Clinton County, New York *Clinton, Clinton County, New York *Clinton, Dutchess County, New York *Clinton, Oneida County, New York * Clinton, Manhattan, or Hell's Kitchen, a neighborhood in New York City *East Greenb ...

Works

* 1929: "On complex values of a real parameter", ''

American Mathematical Monthly ''The American Mathematical Monthly'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of mathematics. It was established by Benjamin Finkel in 1894 and is published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Mathematical Association of America. It is an exposi ...

'' 36(7):376–9. * 1930; "On algebraic inversive invariants",

American Journal of Mathematics The ''American Journal of Mathematics'' is a bimonthly mathematics journal published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. History The ''American Journal of Mathematics'' is the oldest continuously published mathematical journal in the United S ...

52(2):413–24 (with

) * 1933: "The origins of the geometric principle of inversion", ''

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

'' 19(1):154–80. * 1935: "The components of velocity and acceleration", ''American Mathematical Monthly'' 42(9): 554–7. * 1937: ''Projective Geometry'',

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...

. Reviews:R.A. Johnson, ''American Mathematical Monthly'' 45(5): 313,4
-

Patrick du Val Patrick du Val (March 26, 1903 – January 22, 1987) was a British mathematician, known for his work on algebraic geometry, differential geometry, and general relativity. The concept of Du Val singularity of an algebraic surface is named af ...

, ''

Mathematical Gazette ''The Mathematical Gazette'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Mathematical Association. It covers mathematics education with a focus on the 15–20 years age range. The journ ...

'' 21: 445, #247
- H.A. Robinson, ''

National Mathematics Magazine ''Mathematics Magazine'' is a refereed bimonthly publication of the Mathematical Association of America. Its intended audience is teachers of collegiate mathematics, especially at the junior/senior level, and their students. It is explicitly a j ...

'' 12(5): 258 * 1939: "The artificial arithmetik in decimals of Robert Jager 1651", ''Isis'' 31(1):25–31. * 1941: "The Inversive Plane", ''American Mathematical Monthly'' ''48'': 589–99,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Boyd Crumrine 1902 births 1988 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American geometers People from McKeesport, Pennsylvania Johns Hopkins University alumni Hamilton College (New York) faculty Washington & Jefferson College alumni Presidents of Washington & Jefferson College Mathematicians from New York (state) 20th-century American academics