:''This is about early- and mid-20th-century mathematician. For his mathematician son, active from the mid-20th century, see L. R. Ford Jr.'' Lester Randolph Ford Sr. (October 25, 1886 – November 11, 1967) was an American mathematician, editor of the ''

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 ...

'' from 1942 to 1946, and president of the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary edu ...

from 1947 to 1948. Ford circles are named after him. He is the father of L. R. Ford Jr.

Education and career

Ford's first degree, Bachelor of Pedagogy, was from a normal school in

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. He then attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

in Columbia, graduating with a B.A. in 1911. For graduate work he went to

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 ...

in 1912 and 13. Ford was then called to

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, where in 1914 he was instructor of mathematics at

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. Games of

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on campus gave Ford some social contact and reputation. In 1915 Ford published ''An Introduction to the Theory of Automorphic Functions'' as Edinburgh Mathematical Tract # 6. Returning to Harvard in 1917, Ford was awarded his Ph.D. for the thesis ''Rational Approximations to an Irrational Complex Number'', under the supervision of Maxime Bôcher. Later Ford joined the faculty of Rice Institute in

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. There he married Marguerite Eleanor John on 15 June 1924. Moving north to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Ford taught at

Armour Institute The Illinois Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Illinois Tech and IIT, is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour ...

, soon to become Illinois Institute of Technology. From there he went to the editorship of

The 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 exposito ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Ford was president of the

for 1947,8. In 1964, the MAA recognised his contribution to mathematics by establishing the Lester R. Ford Awards for authors of articles of expository excellence published in ''

'' or ''

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 ...

''. (The prize is now known as the Paul R. Halmos – Lester R. Ford Award.Paul R. Halmos - Lester R. Ford Awards
on the website of the Mathematical Association of America.) His doctoral students include Edwin Beckenbach.

Publications

* 1915
An Introduction to the Theory of Automorphic Functions
via

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* 1919: ''Elementary Mathematics for Field Artillery'' * 1929: * 1928
Introduction to Differential Equations
via

HathiTrust HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries. Its holdings include content digitized via Google Books and the Internet Archive digitization initiatives, as well as content digit ...

* 1933: ''Differential Equations'', second edition 1955,Review
of ''Differential Equations''. By Lester R. Ford. New 2nd Edition. xii, 291. 37s. 6d. 1955. (McGraw-Hill), by C. G. Paradine in ''

The 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 ...

'' Volume 41 , Issue 335 , February 1957 , pp. 66–67 * 1963: (with his son
Calculus

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

via HathiTrust

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, L. R. 20th-century American mathematicians Presidents of the Mathematical Association of America 1886 births 1967 deaths Harvard University alumni Rice University faculty University of Missouri alumni American textbook writers The American Mathematical Monthly editors