A Guide to the Philip Davis Mathematician Autograph Collection, 1952-1960, 1979, 1996-2002
Descriptive Summary | ||
| Creator: | Davis, Philip J. | |
| Title: | Philip Davis Mathematician Autograph Collection | |
| Dates: | 1952-1960, 1979, 1996-2002 | |
| Abstract: | The Philip Davis Mathematician Autograph Collection consists of hand-signed letters from well-known mathematicians, received by Davis during his career. | |
| Accession No.: | 2012-032 | |
| Extent: | 1 in. | |
| Language: | Materials are written in English. | |
| Repository: | Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin | |
Biographical Note
Philip J. Davis is an American academic applied mathematician. After serving in the Air Force Reserves during the 1940s, he received his PhD in mathematics from Harvard University in 1950, where he wrote his dissertation under Ralph Boas. From 1954 to 1963, he worked for the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, DC, becoming head of the Numerical Analysis Section in 1959. In 1963, he joined the faculty at Brown University, where he remained for the rest of his career.
Davis was an active writer in the fields of applied mathematics and the philosophy of mathematics, as well as autobiographical and fiction works. He was one of the founding editors of the Journal of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics in 1953.
Source: Philip Davis Oral History, The History of Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing, http://history.siam.org/oralhistories/davis.htm
Scope and Contents
The Philip Davis Mathematician Autograph Collection consists of hand-signed letters from well-known mathematicians, received by Davis during his career. The letters generally deal with routine mathematical business, such as requests for reprints, submissions to journals, or mathematical problems. Some letters have personal messages to Davis, and some deal with the business of the National Bureau of Standards.
Forms part of the Archives of American Mathematics.
Restrictions
Access Restrictions
Unrestricted access.
Use Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Index Terms | ||
| Subjects (Persons) | ||
| Davis, Philip J., 1923- | ||
| Subjects (Organizations) | ||
| United States. National Bureau of Standards. | ||
| Subjects | ||
| Mathematicians--Correspondence. | ||
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Philip Davis Mathematician Autograph Collection, 1952-1960, 1979, 1996-2002, Archives of American Mathematics, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Elliot Williams, January 2013.
Detailed Description of the Papers