Herbert Ellsworth Slaught

Herbert Ellsworth Slaught (1861–1937) was an American mathematician who was president of the Mathematical Association of America and editor of the journal American Mathematical Monthly.

Herbert Ellsworth Slaught
Born(1861-07-21)July 21, 1861
Watkins Glen, New York
DiedMay 21, 1937(1937-05-21) (aged 75)
Chicago, Illinois
Alma materColgate University
Spouse(s)Mary L Davis
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsChicago University
ThesisThe Cross Ratio Group of 120 Quadratic Cremona Transformations of the Plane (1898)
Doctoral advisorEliakim Hastings Moore

Life and work

Slaught, born in the Finger Lakes area, left his place of birth when he was 13 years old, due to the bankruptcy of the family's farm. The family moved to Hamilton, New York where he studied at Colgate University,[1] graduating in 1883. After teaching some years at the Peddie School (Hightstown, New Jersey), he received in 1892 a fellowship from the University of Chicago,[2] where he was awarded a PhD in 1898. Slaught remained as professor at Chicago for the rest of his academic life, till his retirement in 1931.

In 1907, he became editor of the American Mathematical Monthly, a journal addressed to secondary teachers of mathematics. During his years as editor he worked heavily to broad the basis of the journal.[3] He was founding member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and an early member of the American Mathematical Society.[4] He did not do research in mathematics, but his inspired teaching encouraged a lot of young people to follow a career in this matter.

gollark: Tradition is *a* reason to think something might be better, but a fairly weak one, since the people of the past had rather different values, and not tools like computer simulations or more recent mathematical analyses of voting systems.
gollark: Also, yes, the context is quite different so reasons from then may not apply.
gollark: It's also possible that more complex systems may have been impractical before computers came along, although that doesn't apply to, say, approval voting.
gollark: First-past-the-post is the simplest and most obvious thing you're likely to imagine if you want people to "vote for things", and it's entirely possible people didn't look too hard.
gollark: I don't know if the people designing electoral systems actually did think of voting systems which are popular now and discard them, but it's not *that* much of a reason to not adopt new ones.

References
  1. Zitarelli 2015, p. 136.
  2. Suzuki 2009, p. 333.
  3. Cairns 1938, p. 1.
  4. Bliss 1938, p. 5.

Bibliography
  • Bliss, G.A. (1938). "Herbert Ellsworth Slaught—Teacher and Friend". The American Mathematical Monthly. 45 (1): 5–10. doi:10.1080/00029890.1938.11990758. ISSN 0002-9890.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Cairns, W.D. (1938). "Herbert Ellsworth Slaught—Editor and Organizer". The American Mathematical Monthly. 45 (1): 1–4. doi:10.1080/00029890.1938.11990757. ISSN 0002-9890.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Suzuki, Jeff (2009). Mathematics in Historical Context. The Mathematical Association of America. ISBN 978-0-88385-570-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Zitarelli, David E. (2015). "The Mathematical Association of America: Its First 100 years". In Stephen F. Kennedy; et al. (eds.). A Century of Advancing Mathematics. The Mathematical Association of America. ISBN 978-0-88385-588-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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