Family Math Matters

Over the weekend, my alma mater, the University of Richmond played the Lehigh University in the first round of the FCS playoffs. The Spiders of Richmond lost to the Mountain Hawks (?!) Lehigh to bring a disappointing end to a season where the Spiders outperformed expectations.

Despite the disappointment of his game (and the other game on Saturday), I used it as an opportunity to explore my own connection with Lehigh University. My uncle, grandfather, and great grandfather all attended the engineering school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. My great grandfather, Joseph Benson Reynolds, was a professor of math at Lehigh. I had long known that JB Reynolds had published at least three textbooks, one of which, Elementary Mechanics (Prentice Hall 1928) is now in the public domain.

I started to read around in some of his article length publications, many of which are likewise in the public domain. Like my grandfather (and my mother, I think), Joseph B. Reynolds had an unapologetically practical approach to math. I particularly enjoyed his article in Science (1938) titled “Falling Chimneys.” I also think that Reynold’s contribution to the mapping of the orbit of a “minor planet” (or asteroid) and it being named for Lehigh is pretty cool.

The coolest part of these excavations was a pair of articles by David E. Zitarelli. One was called “In the shadow of giants: A section of American mathematicians, 1925–1950,” and in Mathematics Magazine 78 (2005) and the other was in Historia Mathematica 34 (2007) 271–288 and titled “Straddling centuries: The struggles of a mathematician and his university to enter the ranks of research mathematics, 1870–1950.” I spent more time with the latter, which focused more on J.B. Reynolds and his career. What was great is that it described how my great grandfather bridged the gap between pre-professional academics — who were essential teachers — and academic professionals in the field of mathematics. Reynolds started his position at Lehigh immediately after he completed his BA in 1907 and continued to teach in the math department there while he earned his MA. He earned his PhD after two years of advanced study and with a thesis he submitted to the faculty of Moravian College in 1919. He was never, in a proper sense, enrolled in a PhD program.

After earning his PhD, he continued his education by attending a series of seminars at Princeton University in 1926-1927. His attendance at these seminars was partly motivated by his chair’s desire to see him become a more research focused faculty member. In the later 20s and 1930s, he produced a series of more scholarly, but still practical articles in primarily regional publications. In some cases, he collaborated with engineers on a series of articles focusing on girders, springs, wheels, chains, truck frames, oils, and, of course, chimneys. He also contributed answers to problems that appeared periodically in mathematic periodicals. These answers showed new, easier, or more reliable ways to solve complex equations and were not generally regarded as higher level math. Nor were his collaborations with engineers consider the highest level of mathematic work. That said, his place in the department seemed secure through the late 1940s when he retired and largely stopped producing publishable research.

It’s fascinating to see how my great grandfather’s career paralleled my own nearly a century later. Of course, I entered academia through much more professional conduits and my career followed a more professional course, but like my great grandfather, I was able to spend time outside my institution and used it to refine my position the field (by spending a year at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens as faculty). I’m not as prolific as my great grandfather, but I’m happy enough to make my regular contributions to the conversations in my field. I sober eye would probably see most of my contributions to be at a similar scale and impact as my great grandfather’s.

This was a happy realization on what was otherwise a disappointing day.