D. M. Smith
{{short description|American mathematician}}
{{Use American English|date = September 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = September 2019}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = D. M. Smith
|image = DM Smith.png
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|birth_date = July 27, 1884
|birth_place = Nashville, Tennessee, US
|death_date = November 26, 1962
|death_place =
|field = Mathematics
|work_institutions = Georgia Tech
Centenary College
Fort Worth University
|alma_mater = Vanderbilt University
University of Chicago
|doctoral_advisor = Gilbert Ames Bliss
|doctoral_students =
|known_for = Calculus of variations
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David Melville "Doc" Smith (July 27, 1884 – November 26, 1962) was an American professor and mathematician at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). During his more than forty years at the school, he was particularly known for his teaching style and personality. Georgia Tech's D. M. Smith Building, which has housed numerous academic departments, is named in his honor.
Biography
=Career=
D. M. Smith was born in 1884 in Nashville, Tennessee. He attended Vanderbilt University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1905 and a master's degree in 1906. Upon leaving Vanderbilt, Smith began teaching mathematics at Centenary College of Louisiana. He later moved to Texas after accepting a teaching position at Fort Worth University (now part of Oklahoma City University{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OK032.html |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture |title=Oklahoma City University |publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society |accessdate=2008-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090516055308/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OK032.html |archive-date=May 16, 2009 |url-status=dead }}). Smith then returned to graduate school at the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. under the advisement of Gilbert Ames Bliss.{{cite web | work=Mathematics Genealogy Project | publisher=North Dakota State University | accessdate=2007-10-15 | url=http://genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=6051 | title=David Melville Smith }} As with the most notable research of his advisor, Smith focused on the calculus of variations in his dissertation, Jacobi's Condition for the Problem of Lagrange in the Calculus of Variations.{{ cite journal | year=1916 | title=Jacobi's Condition for the Problem of Lagrange in the Calculus of Variations | last=Smith | first=David M. | journal=Transactions of the American Mathematical Society | volume=17 | issue=4 | pages=459–475 | doi=10.2307/1988832 | publisher=American Mathematical Society | jstor=1988832}} After graduating from the University of Chicago,Records are inconsistent about Smith's year of graduation from the University of Chicago; some suggest 1913 as the year, while others suggest 1916. Smith was hired by the Georgia Institute of Technology as an assistant professor.{{cite book|first=Robert|last=Wallace|title=Dress Her in WHITE and GOLD: A biography of Georgia Tech|publisher=Georgia Tech Foundation|year=1969}}
Smith spent over forty years as a professor of mathematics at Georgia Tech. One of Smith's duties was teaching an introductory calculus course for which he received much acclaim from students.{{ cite news | url=http://gtalumni.org/Publications/magazine/fall98/feedback.html| accessdate=2007-10-14 | work=Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Online | year=1998 | publisher=Georgia Tech Alumni Association | title=Feedback: V-12 Program Was Vital | last=Ritch | first=E.R. | quote=One of my favorite professors was Doc [D.M.] Smith, a math professor. [...] He could make calculus seem so simple in class you'd think a first grader could learn it. }}{{ cite news | url=http://www.gtalumni.org/Publications/magazine/spr99/letters.html| work=Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Online | publisher=Georgia Tech Alumni Association | accessdate=2007-10-14 | year=1999 | title=Letters: Smith Was Gem of a Teacher | last=Lutter | first=Fred C. }} Smith was promoted in 1922 from assistant professor to associate professor.{{ cite journal | journal=American Mathematical Monthly | publisher=American Mathematical Society | title=Notes and News | volume=29 | issue=2 | year=1922 | pages=93–96 | doi=10.1080/00029890.1922.11986108 | jstor = 2972833 | quote=Mr. D. M. Smith and Mr. A. B. Morton have been promoted from assistant professorships to associate professorships and Mr. G. T. Trawich has been appointed instructor. }} In 1936, Smith accepted a full professorship and the position of head of the Georgia Tech Mathematics department.{{ cite journal|journal=Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society |publisher=American Mathematical Society |title=Notes |volume=42 |issue=7 |year=1936 |pages=478–482 |doi=10.1090/S0002-9904-1936-06334-2 |quote=Associate Professor D. M. Smith, of the Georgia School of Technology, has been promoted to a professorship and has been appointed head of the department of mathematics. |doi-access=free }} Smith stepped down from his department head position due to his age in 1950, retiring in 1954.{{ cite journal | title=News and Notices | journal=American Mathematical Monthly | publisher=Mathematical Association of America | volume=61 | issue=8 | year=1954 | pages=579–585 | doi=10.1080/00029890.1954.11988521 | quote=Professor D. M. Smith has retired. | jstor=2307624}} The Georgia Tech Alumni Association presented Smith with an Honorary Alumnus Award in 1959.{{cite web | publisher=Georgia Tech Alumni Association | title=Honorary Georgia Tech Alumni | url=http://gtalumni.org/site/Page/PastHonorary | accessdate=2007-12-20 }} Smith died of natural causes in 1962 at age 78.{{ cite journal | title=News and Notices | journal=American Mathematical Monthly | publisher=Mathematical Association of America | volume=70 | issue=7 | year=1963 | pages=784–786 | doi=10.1080/00029890.1963.11992104 | quote=Professor D. M. Smith, Georgia Institute of Technology, died on November 26, 1962. He was a charter member of the Association. | jstor=2312298}} He was a charter member of the Mathematical Association of America.
=Personality=
"Doc" Smith, as he was called, made a powerful impression on his students. A Georgia Tech professor and former student of Smith's remembered him as "a friendly, inspiring curmudgeon who could scare the hell out of you, teach you, advise you, and follow your future after graduation. [...] Dr. Smith was unfailingly interested and supportive."{{ cite news | work=SciTech Vol. 3 | page=3 | publisher=Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences | url=http://www.cos.gatech.edu/scitech_v3.pdf | year=2004 | last=Llewellyn | first=Donna C. | accessdate=2007-10-14 | title=Faculty Profile: Tech Alumni Remember their Great Teachers at Georgia Tech | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071129085158/http://www.cos.gatech.edu/scitech_v3.pdf | archivedate=2007-11-29 }} Other Georgia Tech alumni who were instructed by Smith called him "a gifted teacher",{{ cite news|url=http://gtalumni.org/StayInformed/techtopics/spr91/teacher.html |work=Tech Topics |publisher=Georgia Tech Alumni Association |year=1991 |title=Tribute To a Great Teacher |last=Lampert |first=Sy |accessdate=2007-10-14 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016051547/http://gtalumni.org/StayInformed/techtopics/spr91/teacher.html |archivedate=October 16, 2007 |url-status=dead }} unforgettable, likable, and "a good-hearted guy."{{ cite news|url=http://gtalumni.org/news/ttopics/win99/burdell.html |accessdate=2007-10-14 |year=1999 |work=Tech Topics |publisher=Georgia Tech Alumni Association |title=Burdell & Friends: New Centenarian |last=Dunn |first=John |quote='I'll never forget D. M. Smith,' Hudgins said. 'He was my professor of mathematics when I flunked. He was a good-hearted guy; I liked him.' |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014012111/http://gtalumni.org/news/ttopics/win99/burdell.html |archivedate=October 14, 2007 |url-status=dead }} His memorable teaching style and devotion to his students earned him the title of "legend" among alumni.{{ cite news | url=http://gtalumni.org/Publications/magazine/sum99/letters.html| work=Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Online | publisher=Georgia Tech Alumni Association | title=Letters: Millennium Dilemma | last=Byrd | first=Charles | accessdate=2007-10-14 | year=1999 | quote=I am reminded of D.M. 'Doc' Smith, who was a great professor and a Georgia Tech legend in the Mathematics Department. }}{{ cite news | work=Tech Topics | url=http://gtalumni.org/Publications/techtopics/sum99/oralhis.html| accessdate=2007-10-14 | year=1999 | title=Oral History Spotlight: It Wasn't All Work | last=Lemeiras | first=Maria | publisher=Georgia Tech Alumni Association | quote=He [Georgia Tech alumnus Oliver Simmons] studied under such legends as math Professor D. M. Smith and Dean William Skiles. }}
Physically, Smith was described as "a small, white-haired gentleman with a noticeable limp caused by a short leg" who "always wore a black suit with a bow tie." He was often seen driving around the Georgia Tech campus in a 1930s black coupé automobile similar to the Ramblin' Wreck.
D. M. Smith Building
File:Smith Building, Georgia Tech.jpg
Smith is recognized by the D. M. Smith Building named in his honor, one of twelve structures comprising the Georgia Institute of Technology Historic District. The building was erected in 1923 by the architectural firm L.W. Robert and Company, Inc. with US$150,000 donated by the Carnegie Corporation and $50,000 from Greater Georgia Tech Campaign funds. The English collegiate architectural style of the building, recommended by Georgia Tech architecture faculty members John L. Skinner and Harold Bush-Brown, would serve as an influential model for Georgia Tech campus buildings constructed over the next twenty years.{{cite web | url=http://www.artery.org/GaTech.htm | publisher=Marietta Street Artery Association | title=Georgia Institute Of Technology Historic District | accessdate=2007-10-14 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102040958/http://www.artery.org/GaTech.htm | archive-date=2007-01-02 | url-status=dead }}
Many academic departments have been housed in the D. M. Smith Building as institutional needs changed. The first occupants were Georgia Tech's Architecture and Physics departments. Later, the building contained offices and laboratories for the Social Sciences, Psychology, and Mathematics departments. Presently, the building is home to the School of Public Policy and the Pre-Law Departments in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.{{cite web|work=Georgia Tech Campus Map |url=http://gtalumni.org/campusmap/bldngmodel.php?id=24 |publisher=Georgia Tech Alumni Association |title=Detail of D. M. Smith Building |accessdate=2007-10-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019002904/http://gtalumni.org/campusmap/bldngmodel.php?id=24 |archivedate=October 19, 2007 }}
References
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External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://archive.today/20130704031637/http://map.gtalumni.org/index.php?id=24 D. M. Smith Building on the Georgia Tech Campus Map]
- [http://www.hts.gatech.edu/ Georgia Tech School of History, Technology, and Society]
- [http://www.spp.gatech.edu/ Georgia Tech School of Public Policy]
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Category:20th-century American mathematicians
Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee