Earle Raymond Hedrick | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 2nd Provost of the University of California, Los Angeles | |
| In office 1937–1942 | |
| Preceded by | Ernest Carroll Moore |
| Succeeded by | Clarence Addison Dykstra |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 September 1876 |
| Died | 3 February 1943(1943-02-03) (aged 66) |
| Relatives | Carey McWilliams (son-in-law) |
| Education | |
| Occupation | University Professor University Provost |
Earle Raymond Hedrick (September 27, 1876 – February 3, 1943), was anAmericanmathematician and a vice-president of theUniversity of California.
Hedrick was born inUnion City,Indiana.After undergraduate work at theUniversity of Michigan, he obtained a Master of Arts fromHarvard University. With a Parker fellowship, he went to Europe and obtained his PhD fromGöttingen University in Germany under the supervision ofDavid Hilbert in 1901. He then spent several months at theÉcole Normale Supérieure in France, where he became acquainted withÉdouard Goursat,Jacques Hadamard,Jules Tannery,Émile Picard andPaul Émile Appell, before becoming an instructor atYale University. In 1903, he became professor at theUniversity of Missouri.
He moved in 1920 to theUniversity of California, Los Angeles to become head of the department of mathematics. In 1933, he was giving the first graduate lecture on mathematics at UCLA. He becameprovost and vice-president of theUniversity of California in 1937. He humorously called his appointmentThe Accident, and told jokingly after this event, "I no longer have any intellectual interests —I just sit and talk to people." He played in fact a very important role in making of the University of California a leading institution. He retired from the UCLA faculty in 1942 and accepted a visiting professorship atBrown University. Soon after the beginning of this new appointment, he suffered a lung infection. He died at theRhode Island Hospital inProvidence,Rhode Island. Two UCLA residence halls have been named after him: Hedrick Hall in 1963, and Hedrick Summit in 2005.
Earle Raymond Hedrick worked onpartial differential equations and on the theory ofnon-analytic functions of complex variables. He also did work in applied mathematics, in particular on a generalization ofHooke's law and on transmission of heat in steam boilers. WithOliver Dimon Kellogg he authored a text on the applications of calculus to mechanics.
Earle Raymond Hedrick translated in English theCours d'Analyse of Édouard Goursat providing American students with an up-to-date (for the beginning of the twentieth century) textbook of analysis. He also translated the first part of the textbook ofFelix KleinElementarmathematik vom höheren Standpunkte aus in English. His activity in the Mathematical Association of America and in the National Council of Mathematics Teachers had also an important impact on mathematics education in the United States. He also authored or co-authored various textbooks of mathematics, and was general editor of the Series of Mathematical Texts which comprises about 40 volumes.
Earle Raymond Hedrick was involved in the creation of theMathematical Association of America in 1916 and was its first president.[1] The Earle Raymond Hedrick lectures were established by the Mathematical Association in America in his honor. He also served as vice-president of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science, and played an important role at theAmerican Mathematical Society both as president (1929–1930) and as editor of the Bulletin of the Americal Mathematical Society, a role he assumed during 17 years. He also worked as editor for the Engineering Science Series.
Besides the societies where Earl Raymond Hedrick had important administrative activities, he was also a member of:
