Mathematics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, the first 65 years.

Professor Paul Ehrlich, PhD wrote this book which was completed in 1996. Not only was the first 65 years of the department here in Gainesville covered, but the early presidents of the University as well. He was assisted by Nancy Hadlock Moore,  MED, MSLS.

To access a separate web page of the book click on the following link:
Mathematics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, the first 65 years

To access the book in pdf form click on the following link:
Mathematics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, the first 65 years

To view Professor Ehrlich’s acknowledgments
To view the last paragraph of Professor Ehrlich’s acknowledgments

There are two print copies of this book in the University of Florida Library system. The copy in the Marston Science Library circulates meaning that it can be checked out.
See the Library Catalog for details.

Table of Contents

    Introduction

  1. Thomas Taliaferro 1901–1904: A Johns Hopkins Graduate Comes to Grief in Lake City
    • Appendix A: President Taliaferro’s Annual Report
  2. President Andrew Sledd: A Building Program in 1904
    • Appendix A: The Normal and Industrial School in St. Petersburg
    • Appendix B: The Board of Trustees in 1904
    • Appendix C: A Tour of the New Campus in Gainesville in 1906
    • Appendix D: Autobiography of a Southern Schoolmaster
    • Appendix E: Religious Considerations in the Early 1900’s: William Henry Belk
  3. The Early History: 1905 – 1911
    • Appendix A: Dean John R. Benton Remembered
    • Appendix B: What Became of Andrew Sledd?
  4. Summer, 1906: Off to Gainesville
      Appendix A: Charles Crow Remembers Gainesville in 1906
  5. The Early History of the Department of Mathematics: 1911 through the 1930’s, the Simpson Years
    • Appendix A: Enrollments at the University of Florida during the academic year
    • Appendix B: The Philosophy of the Lower Division and General College
    • Appendix C: Books authored by mathematics faculty members at the University of Florida from 1911–1940
    • Appendix D: Dean of the Graduate School Thomas Simpson’s Annual Report for the academic year 1943–1944
    • Appendix E: Size of the Instructional Staff in the Department of Mathematics
    • Appendix F: Life in Gainesville in the 1910’s and 1920’s as remembered by Mabelle Williams Benton
    • Appendix G: Pre-World War II Faculty Biographical Sketches
    • Appendix H: The University of Florida during World War I
    • Appendix I: Epidemics Prior to the 1920’s
    • Appendix J: Colin Gunn, Class of 1916
  6. Albert A. Murphree: A Mathematics Professor at the Turn of the Century
  7. Graduate Education in Mathematics in 1894
  8. Dr. Franklin Wesley Kokomoor, Chair from 1951 – 1960
    • Appendix A: The University of Florida during World War II
    • Appendix B: Mathematics in a Dark Room by Dr. Rick Smith, Department of Mathematics
    • Appendix C: Louis Karpinski and American History of Mathematics Prior to World War II
  9. The John E. Maxfield and A. D. Wallace Years: 1960 – 1970—The Research Climate Receives Increasing Emphasis
    • Appendix A: Not With A Hatchet
    • Appendix B: The Center for Applied Mathematics (CAM)

    Index

In his Acknowledgement Section, Professor Paul Ehrlich in 1996 wrote this:

“The current chair of the Mathematics Department, Professor Joseph Glover, was in on the inception of this lengthy project; when he told me that he had lists of all of the masters and Ph.D. graduates, I embarked on a project of writing to the alumni of the 1950’s, hoping to gain some material for the Walker Hall Review. I never at all envisioned that I would wind up in the Archives reading presidential correspondence from 1904 and 1906!! Dean Gannon kindly informed me that I could find a complete set of catalogues in the Archives, and then later Professor Proctor suggested that I look in the Sledd Letterbooks, whatever they were, to try to find correspondence from Sledd to his early appointees. So that is how the library work all got started. Professor Glover has also provided me with some insightful comments in many discussions we have held on how the mathematics community moved into what we arrogantly would call “modern times,” as well as encouraging me in my pursuit of this lengthy and unconventional endeavor.”