Raymond Clare Archibald (7 October 1875 – 26 July 1955) was a prominent Canadian-American mathematician. He is known for his work as a historian of mathematics, his editorships of mathematical journals and his contributions to the teaching of mathematics.

Biography

Raymond Clare Archibald was born in South Branch, Stewiacke,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

on 7 October 1875. He was the son of Abram Newcomb Archibald (1849–1883) and Mary Mellish Archibald (1849–1901). He was the fourth cousin twice removed of the famous Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician

Simon Newcomb Simon Newcomb (March 12, 1835 – July 11, 1909) was a Canadians, Canadian–Americans, American astronomer, applied mathematician, and autodidactic polymath. He served as Professor of Mathematics in the United States Navy and at Johns Hopkins ...

. Archibald graduated in 1894 from Mount Allison College with B.A. degree in mathematics and teacher's certificate in violin. After teaching mathematics and violin for a year at the Mount Allison Ladies' College he went to

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

where he received a B.A. 1896 and a M.A. in 1897. He then traveled to Europe where he attended the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

during 1898 and received a Ph.D. cum laude from the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

in 1900. His advisor was Karl Theodor Reye and title of his dissertation was The

Cardioid In geometry, a cardioid () is a plane curve traced by a point on the perimeter of a circle that is rolling around a fixed circle of the same radius. It can also be defined as an epicycloid having a single cusp. It is also a type of sinusoidal ...

e and Some of its Related Curves. He returned to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1900 and taught mathematics and violin at the Mount Allison Ladies' College until 1907. After a one-year appointment at Acadia University he accepted an invitation of join the mathematics department at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

. He stayed at Brown for the rest of his career becoming a Professor Emeritus in 1943. While at Brown he created one of the finest mathematical libraries in the western hemisphere. Archibald returned to Mount Allison in 1954 to curate the Mary Mellish Archibald Memorial Library, the library he had founded in 1905 to honor his mother. At his death the library contained 23,000 volumes, 2,700 records, and 70,000 songs in American and English poetry and drama. Raymond Clare Archibald was a world-renowned historian of mathematics with a lifelong concern for the teaching of mathematics in secondary schools. At the presentation of his portrait to Brown University the head of the mathematics department, Professor Clarence Raymond Adams said of him: "The instincts of the bibliophile were also his from early years. Possessing a passion for accurate detail, systematic by nature and blessed with a memory that was the marvel of his friends, he gradually acquired a knowledge of mathematical books and their values which has scarcely been equalled. This knowledge and an untiring energy he dedicated to the upbuilding of the mathematical library at

. From modest beginnings he has developed this essential equipment of the mathematical investigator to a point where it has no superior, in completeness and in convenience for the user."

Honors

Archibald received honorary degrees from the

University of Padua The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...

(LL.D., 1922),

Mount Allison University Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839. Mount Allison was the first university in the British Empire to award a baccal ...

(LL.D., 1923) and from

(M.A. ad eundem, 1943). * Fellow,

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

(1906) * Member,

Deutsche Mathematiker-Vereinigung The German Mathematical Society (, DMV) is the main professional society of German mathematicians and represents German mathematics within the European Mathematical Society (EMS) and the International Mathematical Union (IMU). It was founded in ...

(1908) * Member,

Edinburgh Mathematical Society The Edinburgh Mathematical Society is a mathematical society for academics in Scotland. History The Society was founded in 1883 by a group of Edinburgh school teachers and academics, on the initiative of Alexander Yule Fraser FRSE and Andrew ...

(1909) * Member,

Mathematical Association The Mathematical Association is a professional society concerned with mathematics education in the UK. History It was founded in 1871 as the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching and renamed to the Mathematical Association in ...

(England) (1910) * Member,

Société Mathématique de France Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

(1911) * Member,

London Mathematical Society The London Mathematical Society (LMS) is one of the United Kingdom's Learned society, learned societies for mathematics (the others being the Royal Statistical Society (RSS), the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA), the Edinburgh ...

(1912) * Charter Member,

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 ...

(1916); elected president for 1922 * Fellow,

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

(1917) * Librarian,

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, ...

(1921-1941) * Member,

Circolo Matematico di Palermo The Circolo Matematico di Palermo (Mathematical Circle of Palermo) is an Italian mathematical society, founded in Palermo by Sicilian geometer Giovanni B. Guccia in 1884.

(1922) * Soci Fondatori,

Unione Matematica Italiana The Italian Mathematical Union () is a mathematical society based in Italy. It was founded on December 7, 1922, by Luigi Bianchi, Vito Volterra, and most notably, Salvatore Pincherle, who became the Union's first President. History Salvator ...

(1924) * Founding Member,

History of Science Society The History of Science Society (HSS), founded in 1924, is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. The society has over 3,000 members worldwide. It publishes the quarterly journal ''Isis'' and the yearly ...

(1924) * Honorary Member, Society of Sciences, Cluj, Roumania (1929) * Honorary Foreign Fellow, Masarykova Akademie Prace, Prague, Czecho-Slovakia (1930) * Membre Effective, Académie Internationale d'Historie des Sciences (1931) * Honorary Foreign Member,

Polish Mathematical Society The Polish Mathematical Society () is the main professional society of Polish mathematicians and represents Polish mathematics within the European Mathematical Society (EMS) and the International Mathematical Union (IMU). History The society was ...

(1934) * Honorary Member,

New Brunswick Museum The New Brunswick Museum, located in Saint John, New Brunswick, is Canada's oldest continuing museum. The New Brunswick Museum was incorporated as the "Provincial Museum" in 1929 and received its current name in 1930, but its history goes back muc ...

(1946) * Honorary Member,

(England) (1949)

Editorships

* Associate editor, ''

Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society The ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' is a quarterly mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society. Scope It publishes surveys on contemporary research topics, written at a level accessible to non-experts. ...

'' (1913–20) * Editor-in-chief, ''

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 ...

'' (1919–21); associate editor (1918–19) * Associate editor, Revue Semestrielles des Publications Mathématiques (1923–34) * Associate editor, ''

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 ...

'' (1924–48) * Associate editor, ''

Scripta Mathematica ''Scripta Mathematica'' was a quarterly journal published by Yeshiva University devoted to the Philosophy, history, and expository treatment of mathematics. It was said to be, at its time, "the only mathematical magazine in the world edited by spe ...

'' (1932–49) * Founder and editor, ''Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation'' (1943–49) * Co-founder and editor, ''Eudemes''

Bibliography

Archibald's bibliography contains over 1,000 entries. He contributed to over 20 different journals, mathematical, scientific, educational and literary. The following are the books of which he is an author: * Margaret Gordon, Lady Bannerman, Carlyle's First Love, John Lane, 1910, *

Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

's Book on Divisions of Figures: (Peri diairéseon biblion): with a restoration based on Woepcke's text and on the Practica geometriae of Leonardo Pisano, Cambridge University Press, 1916, * The Training of Teachers of Mathematics for the Secondary Schools of the Countries Represented in the International Commission on the Teaching of Mathematics, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1917 *

Benjamin Peirce Benjamin Peirce (; April 4, 1809 – October 6, 1880) was an American mathematician who taught at Harvard University for approximately 50 years. He made contributions to celestial mechanics, statistics, number theory, algebra, and the philoso ...

, 1809–1880. Biographical Sketch and Bibliography, Mathematical Association of America, 1925 * Bibliography of Egyptian and Babylonian Mathematics, Plandome Press, 1929 * History of Mathematics,

, 1931 * Outline of the History of Mathematics, The Lancaster Press, 1932 * Bibliography of the Life and Works of

, J. Hope and & Sons, 1932 * A Semicentennial History of the

, American Mathematical Society, 1938, * Mary Mellish Archibald Memory Library Guide for Students and Scholars, Mount Allison University, 1935–46 * Mathematical Table Makers, Scripta Mathematica, 1948 * Geometrical Constructions with a Ruler,

, 1950 * Historical Notes on the Education of Women at Mount Allison, 1854–1954, Mount Allison University, 1954 * Famous Problems of Elementary Geometry, Dover, 1955 *

Biographies

* Biographisch-Literarisches Handwörterbuch zur Geschichte der Exacten Wissenschaften Enthaltend Nachweisungen über Lebensverhältnisse und Leitstunger von Mathematikern, Astronomen, Physikern, Chemikern, Mineralogen, Geologen usw. aller Völker und Zeiten ("Poggendorff"), 1904/22 and 1923/31 * American Men of Science, 1905 though 1955 * The Canadian Men and Women of the Time, 1912 * Who's Who in Science, International, 1913 * Who's Who in America, 1914/15 though 1954/55 * Who's Who, 1922 though 1955 * Encyclopædia Britannica, 1929 * Who's Who in American Education, 1935/36, with portrait * The Compendium of American Genealogy, First Families of America, 1937 * The Canadian Who's Who, 1937/38 though 1952/54 * Who's Who in New England, 1916, 1938, 1948 * The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1938 * Who's Who Among North American Authors, 1927/28 though 1936/40 * Leaders in Education: A Biographical Directory, 1941 * Directory of American Scholars. A Biographical Directory, 1942 * Who's Who in the East, 1948 though 1953 * World Biography, 1948 and 1954 * The Author's & Writer's Who's Who, 1949 * Who knows, and what, among authorities, experts, and the specially informed, 1949 * The International Who is Who in Music, 1951 * The New Century Cyclopedia of Names, 1954 * Who Was Who. 1951–1960, 1964 * Who Was Who in America. 1951–1960, 1964. * International Personal Bibliographie, 1800—1943 * Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana, Madrid, 1905—1930 * Internationale Bibliographie der Zeitschriftenliteratur aus allen Gebieten des Wissens * A Bio-Bibliographical Finding List of Canadian Musicians * Isis Cumulative Bibliography
MacTutor
* Harvard College Class of 1896. Fiftieth Anniversary Report, 1946

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Archibald, Raymond C. Brown University faculty 19th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians Canadian mathematicians Harvard University alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Mount Allison University alumni Presidents of the Mathematical Association of America American historians of mathematics History of mathematics Mathematical tables 1875 births 1955 deaths Canadian expatriate academics in the United States Canadian expatriates in Germany The American Mathematical Monthly editors