urn:taro:utexas.cah.00533 A Guide to the S.S. Cairns Collection, 1979 12/01/06Encoded in XMetal 2 by Sean Heyliger according to instructions in TARO 2 EAD 2002 Editing Instructions. December 2012 Finding aid modified and updated to current formatting by Elliot Williams. Descriptive Summary Cairns, Stewart S. (Stewart Scott) S.S. Cairns Collection 1979 Materials are written in English. 2006-240 1/8 inch Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin Stewart S. Cairns (1904-1982) was a notable mathematician who worked chiefly in the fields of geometry and topology. The collection consists of a transcribed lecture delivered by Cairns for a departmental meeting of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Mathematics on August 30, 1979. Biographical Note

Stewart S. Cairns (1904-1982) was a notable mathematician who worked chiefly in the fields of geometry and topology. After receiving his Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University in 1931 for his dissertation, "The Cellular Division and Approximation of Regular Spreads," Cairns went on to teach at several universities including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was Professor of Mathematics from 1948 until his retirement in 1972.

Scope and Contents

Collection consists of a transcribed lecture delivered by S.S. Cairns at a departmental meeting of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Mathematics on August 30, 1979. The primary subject of the talk is Cairns' reminiscence of his travels, education, and mathematical work.

Forms part of the Archives of American Mathematics

 Access Restrictions

Unrestricted access

 Preferred Citation

S.S. Cairns Collection, 1979, Archives of American Mathematics, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

 Index Terms Cairns, Stewart S. (Stewart Scott) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dept. of Mathematics. Topology— History Mathematicians Collection History

This collection was previously housed at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

 Detailed Description of the Papers 4RM198 S.S. Cairns, "Reflections of a Septuagenarian Mathematician," 1979