March/April 2025 (Volume 17, Issue 2)

 

By Loyal D. Rue

 

The status of scientific research in the United States throughout the 19th century was decisively short of being world-class. To be sure, fledgling colleges and universities in the U.S. offered elementary instruction in science and mathematics, but these subjects were overshadowed by the more traditional classical curriculum. Any ambitions young scholars might have had about original research in the sciences were discouraged by a dearth of post-graduate opportunities as well as by excessive teaching duties. If young scientists aspired to catch a glimpse of the horizons of science and mathematics they had to find their way to the prestigious universities of Europe, especially in England, France and Germany. Not many were fortunate enough to manage the resources necessary for luxurious academic ventures of this sort, but those who did would return home with fire in their bellies to elevate American research in science and mathematics to the highest standards.

 

At the turn of the century there were measurable signs of change, particularly in the domain of mathematics. By 1900 three universities—Harvard, Chicago, Princeton—had distinguished themselves by developing strong programs in mathematics. These departments were especially influential in training a generation of young scholars who would realize the vision of a world-class American scientific community. In 1905, Princeton University took the lead among the “Big Three” when Woodrow Wilson, then president of the university, boldly recruited to the faculty a cadre of the nation’s most talented young scientists and mathematicians. Not least among these young scholars was the Iowa-born Oswald Veblen, who emerged as one of the most influential mathematicians of the 20th century, in part because of his original contributions to mathematics, but also because of his relentless and diplomatic efforts to create an infrastructure that would nourish the careers of researchers. His accomplishments earned him a reputation as America’s “Statesman of Mathematics.”

 

 

Veblen was the grandson of a Norwegian cabinet maker, Thomas Veblen, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1847, eventually settling into a life of farming in Rice County, Minn., where he and his wife, Kari (Bunde), raised 12 children. Oswald’s father, Andrew, was the eldest of the Veblen children, and he set an example of academic achievement that would be followed by his siblings. Andrew graduated from Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., in 1877, and subsequently joined the faculty at Luther College in Decorah, where he taught science and English. Oswald was born in Decorah on June 24, 1880. Andrew left Iowa in 1881 to pursue graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University, and then returned to the state to accept a professorship in physics and mathematics at the University of Iowa.

 

Oswald was educated in Iowa City public schools and went on to complete his bachelor’s degree at the University of Iowa in 1898. As an undergraduate he won two coveted prizes; one in mathematics and a second one in sharpshooting. In 1900, he earned a second bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. In the fall of 1900 he entered the doctorate program in mathematics at the University of Chicago where his uncle, the famous economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen, served on the faculty. He was awarded the PhD in 1903 with a dissertation that was eventually published—“A System of Axioms for Geometry”—on the foundations of geometry. He remained in Chicago for two additional years as an associate in the mathematics department. Then, in 1905, came the invitation from Wilson to join the Princeton faculty.

 

Veblen’s rise as a brilliant mathematician was immediate. Already in 1905 he had proven the Jordan Curve Theorem, considered the theorem’s first rigorous proof. Throughout his career he made valuable contributions to several topics within the domain of mathematics:  foundations of geometry, differential geometry, relativity theory, symbolic logic and topology. Under Veblen’s leadership Princeton became the world’s premier center for the study of algebraic geometry. The world-class vision was coming into focus.

 

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