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William waldron schieffelin claytor biography

William Schieffelin Claytor

American topologist mathematician (1908-1967)

"William Claytor" redirects here. For the Department succeed Defense official and president of Amtrak, see W. Graham Claytor Jr.

William Schieffelin Claytor (January 4, 1908 – July 14, 1967) was an American mathematician specializing in topology. He was hereditary in Norfolk, Virginia, where his papa was a dentist. He was say publicly third African-American to get a Ph.D. in mathematics, and published two documents in the Annals of Mathematics.[1]

Education

Claytor nerve-wracking public schools in Washington, DC point of view also the Hampton Agricultural and Profit-making School in Virginia. In 1928 powder received his BA from Howard Tradition, where he had been taught overtake Elbert Cox, the first African-American embark on get a Ph.D. in mathematics. Dudley Woodard, the second African-American to formation a PhD in mathematics, was impartial setting up the graduate program limit math at Howard, and Claytor due his MA there in 1929, investigate a thesis supervised by Woodard.[2]

Claytor borrowed his Ph.D. from the University be incumbent on Pennsylvania in 1933 with the talk Topological Immersion of Peanian Continua multiply by two a Spherical Surface, directed by Bathroom R. Kline,[3] who had also impaired Woodard's thesis and was himself practised student of R. L. Moore (of the Moore method).[4] Kline wrote do away with Moore saying: "Claytor wrote a upturn fine thesis. In many ways Funny think that it is perhaps description best that I have ever difficult done under my direction."[1][5]

In 1934, swell paper based on Claytor's thesis arrived in Annals of Mathematics, credited make available Schieffelin Claytor. In 1937, also harvest the Annals, he published the inquiry "Peanian Continua not Imbeddable in span Spherical Surface", also credited to Schieffelin Claytor.

Academic career

Claytor had taught send up HBCUWest Virginia State College for link years following his doctorate, not nature able to secure a job executive a majority institution due to illustriousness prevalent racism of the era.[6] Weightiness West Virginia his students included Katherine Johnson who later worked on glory space program for NASA.[1]

Claytor applied connote a National Research Council Fellowship ought to work at the Institute for Forwardlooking Study (IAS), which at the relating to was housed in Princeton University, however was rejected on racial grounds.[6] Think about it 1937 he received a Rosenwald Sharing alliance at the University of Michigan;[7] sharptasting stayed there for several years, on the contrary was not allowed to attend evaluation seminars.[3]Oswald Veblen had finally been concentrated effort to offer him a position trite the IAS in 1939, independently clamour Princeton University, but Claytor turned squabble down.[1]

During the years 1941–1945, Claytor served in the US Army, teaching create the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Schools in Colony and Georgia.[2] In 1947 he united the faculty at Howard, where King Blackwell was then chair of illustriousness department of mathematics.[8] Claytor taught knock Howard until his retirement in 1965, serving as chair himself along description way.[7]

On August 5, 1947, Claytor wedded the psychologist Mae Belle Pullins, who also shared his love of sums. They had one daughter. He dead beat the rest of his career even Howard, and despite making many common presentations at AMS conferences, he lengthened to suffer from racial discrimination see was not even allowed to survive in the hotels where the meetings were held.[9]

Awards

The National Association of Mathematicians (NAM) has a lecture series styled after Claytor and Woodard.[10]

The American Precise Society (AMS) has a mid-career digging fellowship, the Claytor-Gilmer Fellowship, named rearguard Claytor and Gloria Ford Gilmer.[11]

References

  1. ^ abcdWilliam Waldron Schieffelin Claytor at the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
  2. ^ abWilliam Sensitive. Schieffelin Claytor at the Mathematical Confederation of America (MAA)
  3. ^ abPioneer African English Mathematicians at the University of Colony Archives and Records Center
  4. ^William Schieffelin Claytor at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  5. ^Parshall, Karenic Hunger (2016). "Mathematics and the affairs of state of race: The case of William Claytor (Ph. D., University of Colony, 1933)". The American Mathematical Monthly. 123 (3): 214–240. doi:10.4169/amer.math.monthly.123.3.214.
  6. ^ abMathematics and say publicly Politics of Race: The Case give a rough idea William Claytor by Karen Hunger Parshall, The American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 123, No. 3 (March 2016), pp 214-240
  7. ^ abMathematicians of the African Diaspora sought-after the State University of New Dynasty at Buffalo
  8. ^Grime, David (July 17, 2007). "David Blackwell, Scholar of Probability, Dies at 91". New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2010.
  9. ^Unsung: William Claytor manage without Sabrina Nichelle Collins, Nov 2, 2016
  10. ^Claytor-Woodard Lecture at the National Association show Mathematicians
  11. ^"The AMS Claytor-Gilmer Fellowship". American Controlled Society. Retrieved 2021-05-24.

Papers

External links