201 Years of Mathematics at West Point Would be nice to have a West Point background for this slide. V. Frederick Rickey

West Point Founded 1802 In 1793 Washington held a Cabinet meeting to discuss an academy. Hamilton and Knox were in favor, Jefferson opposed. Jefferson founded the Academy to break the Federalist hold on government and to create a Republican army loyal to him.

George Baron Our zeroeth professor of mathematics, hired 16 March 1801 Founded The Mathematical Correspondent, the first mathematical periodical in the US, 1804 Used Hutton’s Course in Mathematics Used Hutton’s Course in Mathematics. I took this out because I will do Hutton momentarily.

Professor Baron furnished me with Dr Professor Baron furnished me with Dr. Hutton's Mathematics, and gave me a specimen of his mode of teaching at the blackboard at the academy. Joseph G. Swift, first graduate of West Point. Add title page of Adrian’s edition of Hutton

Joseph Gardner Swift Swift was the first USMA graduate, in 1802 Superintendent, 1812-1814 1783-1865

American Editions of Hutton Edited by Adrain A chapter on Descriptive Geometry Not attributed to Crozet

Teaching from Hutton in 1814

Jared Mansfield, 1759-1830 Taught mathematics 1802-1803 USMA’s first Professor of Philosophy, appointed 1812. By Thomas Sully, 1783-1872, in the USMA museum.

Ferdinand Hassler Published the first book on analytic trigonometry in the US

Claude Crozet Brought Descriptive Geometry to the US in 1816. Reintroduced the “black board” at USMA. Wrote A Treatise on Descriptive Geometry (1821), the first book on the subject in English. Add a picture of Crozet. Add his dates. When was he at WP? Claude Crozet CROZET, Claude, educator, born in France; died in 1863. He was educated at the Polytechnic school in Paris and became an officer of artillery under Napoleon I. He came to the United States in 1816, and on 1 October was appointed assistant professor of engineering at the U. S. military academy at West Point, and on 6 March 1817, professor. He resigned in 1823, and thereafter acted as a civil engineer. Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, Copyright © 2001 VirtualologyTM

Olivier Models Designed for teaching Descriptive Geometry Purchased 1857 Made by Fabre de Lagrange in Paris 24 of 26 survive Need a better picture.

Henry Moore At Storm King Art Center Stringed Figure No. 1 . Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Need to get titles of these sculptures. Add titles and dates to these sculptures. Naum Gabo, Barbara Hepworth At Storm King Art Center

Alden Partridge, 1785-1854 USMA, 1906 First official “Professor of Mathematics” Father of ROTC Meligned by Cullum

Andrew Ellicott 1754 - 1820 Laid out DC Math P at USMA, 1813 – 1820 Nickname: Old infinite series Had a slate tied to his buttonhole First P to die here

Ellicott tutored Meriwether Lewis in surveying and navigation

Sylvanus Thayer (1808) Assistant Professor of Mathematics, USMA, 1809-1811 Visited technical and military schools in France and England, 1815-1817 Superintendent, USMA, 1817-1833 Founded Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, 1867 “Father of the Military Academy”

Collection:Adolph Wittemann - U. S. Military AcademyTitle:U. S Collection:Adolph Wittemann - U.S. Military AcademyTitle:U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.: photo-gravuresSubject:United States Military Academy--Pictorial works.Description:[67] leaves : all ill. ; 24 x 29 cm.Author:Wittemann, A. (Adolph), 1845-1938Publisher:Albertype Co.Date original:1896Type:Image/JPEGFormat:Photo-gravureCall Number:U410.L3 W783 1896 This is on the library web

The Thayer Method of Teaching Cadets read; no lectures [ ? ] Every cadet is graded every day Small sections of 10-12 Sections grouped by performance U.S. Scott No. 1852

Charles Davies (1807-1878) USMA 1815 Dept Head 1823-37 Published 49 books 492 printings/edn’s By 1875 he was selling 350,000 books per year

Eight books in Eleven years Elements of Descriptive Geometry, 1826 Elements of Geometry and Trigonometry, 1828 Elements of Surveying, 1830 A Treatise on Shades and Shadows, and Linear Perspective, 1832 The Common School Arithmetic, 1833 Elements of Algebra: Translated from the French of M. Bourdon, 1835 Elements of the Differential and Integral Calculus, 1836 Elements of Analytical Geometry, 1837

Teach one thing at a time ─ teach that thing thoroughly ─ and as far as possible, teach all its connections with other things. Charles Davies at the National Meeting of Teachers, Michigan 1852.

Albert E. Church (USMA 1828) Professor of Mathematics, 1837-1878† Widely used textbooks: Elements of Differential and Integral Calculus Elements of Analytical Geometry Elements of Analytical Trigonometry Elements of Descriptive Geometry Nickname: Old Stinky

Church, the Man A kindly, patient teacher Worked with weak cadets Agonized over cadet failures

Church’s Teaching He did not inspire me ─ he had no magnetism ─ he was dry as dust, as his textbooks. Morris Schaff (USMA 1862) The mathematical recitation was a drill room. In my opinion the result was a soldier who knew the maneuvers, but it did not give an independent, self-reliant grasp of the methods of research. Arthur Hardy (USMA 1869)

Robert Parrott, USMA 1824 Plum Bush Inn In Cold Spring

A SONNET TO "ANALYTICAL" Of all the girls I ever knew, The one I've most neglected, Is called Miss “Anna Lytical,” For her I've least respected. Oh! Anna! Anna Lytical I'll never love you more, For you, I fear, will cause my fall, And make me leave the Corps. And now, -- oh! Anna Lytical I hope that "Albert E.,“ Before the "Board," will not give out A word of you to me. For if he does, now Anna I tremble at the sound, For my examination would Result in being "found.“ Oh! cruel Anna Lytical! With truth I now can say, I fear you'll never let me see My "Graduation day." For much of the history of West Point, a course in Analytical Geometry was part of the curriculum. This poem by an unknown cadet shows what the that cadet thought of the course. The "Albert E." referred to is Albert E. Church who was head of the Mathematics Department from 1837 to 1878, longer than any other individual. The "Board" is the Academic Board, which consisted of the Professors at West Point. They conducted oral exams twice each year. They had the questions prepared in advance and were assigned randomly to cadets. Written exams --- remember that's what the W in WPR is for --- were introduced by Professor Edgerton during his term as department head, 1898-1904. A cadet who failed the exam was said to be "found" deficient.

Resectioning in 1899 This 1890 copy of Davies’ Algebra and Trigonometry was owned by U.S. Grant (USMA 1903). He was first in the second section and then moved to 5th in 1st ─ behind Douglas MacArthur.

Thomas Selfridge

Albert L. Mills, USMA 1891 Shot in the eye Awarded the Medal of Honor as a 1st Lt. at San Juan Hill in Cuba President McKinley liked him Appointed Superintendent to West Point by President McKinley, which carried an automatic promotion from 1st Lt. to Col. Served 1898-1906 Echols flunked 40% of plebes in 1905 Punishment tour of Europe

Edgerton 1898 - 1904 Echols 1904 - 1931

Charles Patton Echols 1867-1940 USMA 1891 1891-1894 Served at Engineer School at Willet's Point, NY 1895-1897 Instructor of Mathematics, USMA 1897-1898 Assistant Professor of Mathematics 1898 Commander, Engineer Company in the Philippines 1898-1904 Associate Professor of Mathematics 1918:  Special duty as military observer with Allied Armies in France 1904-1931 Prof Math and Department Head Murdered in Bryant park

Harris Jones 1892-1977 USMA 1917 1918 Commander, Engineer Co, 3rd Division, World War I 1918-1922 Instructor of Mathematics, USMA 1923 MS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1923-1926 Assigned to 8th Engineer Bn, Ft Bliss, TX 1926-1928 Assistant Director of Public Buildings and Parks, D.C. 1928-1931 American Battle Monuments Commission, Paris 1931-1947 Prof Math and Department Head 1947-1956 Dean of the Academic Board

William Weston Bessell, Jr. 1901-1977 USMA 1920 1921-1922 MS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 1923-1928 Prof. of Military Science, Rose Polytechnic Institute 1928-1932 Assistant Professor of Mathematics, USMA 1936-1939 American Battle Monuments Commission, Paris 1940-1942 Chief of Military Personnel Branch, Washington, D.C. 1943-1946 Army Director, Joint War Plans Committee 1946-1947 Cmdg General, Antilles Dept, San Juan, Puerto Rico 1947-1959 Prof Math and Department Head Rebuilt Thayer Hall. 1959-1965 Dean of the Academic Board

Charles Parsons Nicholas 1903-1985 USMA 1925 1927-1928 Inst of English, USMA Preparatory School, Hawaii 1930-1935 Instructor of Mathematics 1941-1942 Asso. Prof. of Mathematics 1947-1948 Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, National Security Council 1948-1959 Prof Math and Deputy Head   1959-1967 Prof Math and Department Head

The Trouncing… November 1932 – Army trounced Harvard in football 46-0 President Lowell proclaimed that Harvard “could just as easily win any contest of a more academic nature”

The Challenge… “I would very much like to test our method of teaching mathematics against that of your institution. I, frankly, think our method is superior to yours, and would like to try it out.” -Major General Connor, Superintendent of the United States Military Academy in a 1932 letter to President Lowell

Harvard Curricula Freshmen Sophomores Met for 3 hours per week Textbooks Osgood & Graustein, Plane and Analytic Geometry Osgood’s Introduction to Calculus Sophomores Under guidance of tutors Subjects Analytic Geometry Algebra

West Point Curriculum Four semester core curriculum Subjects Freshmen: 8 hours per week Sophomores:4 hours per week Subjects Algebra and Trigonometry Solid and Analytic Geometry Differential and Integral Calculus Least Squares (upper 1/3 of class)

Preparations for Battle at West Point “We are really series about this contest. We really mean it. We’re just dyne to meet those dumb Harvard guys, and we’re determinant to win. We all hope to make our integral signs.”

Preparations for Battle at West Point From March 15 – May 20 Excused from parade 3 days a week Excused from intramural athletics Drilled in extra mathematics two afternoons a week

The Faculty in 1950 2 Professors 3 Associate Prof. 4 Assistant Prof. 29 Instructors 37 Total 1 PhD 10 MS 26 BS 31 West Point Grads 6 Non-grads

The Curriculum in 1950 Algebra: 50 hours Slide rule: 5 Trigonometry: 48 Solid mensuration: 20 Analytic geometry: 106 Calculus: 44 Calculus: 88 Differential equations: 24 Statistics: 21

The Curriculum in 1960 Algebra: 27 hours Slide rule: 8 Trigonometry: 56 Solid geometry: 29 Analytic geometry: 95 Calculus: 63 Vector analysis: 21 Calculus: 63 Differential equations: 13 Statistics: 33

Robert Carl Yates, 1904-1963 PhD, Johns Hopkins, 1930. COL, Corps of Engineers, 1942-1954. Associate Professor of Mathematics, USMA, 1942-1954 First PhD in the department. Department Head at William and Mary College. I made up the 1948 date. Need to check it out.

Frank Giordano (USMA 1964) Department head 1988-1995 Reorganized the curriculum in 1991 Discrete Dynamical Systems Calculus and Differential Equations Multivariate Calculus Probability and Statistics 7 into 4

But they are the two best things that have happened to the Academy. The two things I was most opposed to at the time were Women cadets Civilian faculty But they are the two best things that have happened to the Academy. COL Gary Krahn

Women at West Point 631 applied for the class of 1980 (of 6761) 176 were found qualified 148 offered admissions 116 entered in June 1976 87 graduated in June 1980 Today 15% of the class are women Crackel, p. 240

COL Kathi Snook Graduated 1980 1987: MA in applied math 1987-1991: “rotator” in math 1997: Ed.D., Boston University 2002: Retired from the Army

Iso Schoenberg (1903-1990) First Visiting Professor, 1977-1978 First civilian in the 20th century Penn, Aberdeen, Princeton, Wisconsin Splines

Questions? The Classroom in 1904 Add a Stockbridge photo here, but be sure to get information about it, including identifying the people. Cadet recites a geometry problem at boards for CPT Smith.Photographer:Stockbridge, William H., d. 1933 Publisher:United States Military AcademyDate.Original:undatedType:Image/TIFFFormat:PhotographStockbridge Number:152Cullum Number:Collection:Photographs of West Point - William H. Stockbridge The Classroom in 1904