Oswald Veblen

Veblen was born in Decorah, Iowa. His parents were Andrew Anderson Veblen (1848–1932), Professor of Physics at the University of Iowa, and Kirsti (Hougen) Veblen (1851–1908). Veblen's uncle was Thorstein Veblen, noted economist and sociologist.

Oswald went to school in Iowa City. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Iowa, where he received an AB in 1898, and Harvard University, where he was awarded a second BA in 1900. For his graduate studies, he went to study mathematics at the University of Chicago, where he obtained a PhD in 1903. His dissertation, A System of Axioms for Geometry was written under the supervision of E. H. Moore. During World War I, Veblen served first as a captain, later as a major in the United States Army.{{cite web

|url= http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Veblen.html|title= Oswald Veblen |publisher= School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland |author1=O'Connor, J. J. |author2=E F Robertson |access-date= April 20, 2016}}

Veblen taught mathematics at Princeton University from 1905 to 1932. In 1926, he was named Henry B. Fine Professor of Mathematics. In 1932, he helped organize the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, resigning his professorship to become the first professor at the Institute that same year. He kept his professorship at the Institute until he was made emeritus in 1950.{{cite journal

|url= https://www.ams.org/notices/200705/fea-batterson-web.pdf| title= The Vision, Insight, and Influence of Oswald Veblen |journal= Notices of the American Mathematical Society| volume=54|issue= 5|last= Batterson|first=Steve| date=May 2007| access-date= April 20, 2016}}

During his years in Princeton, Veblen and his wife, Elizabeth M D Richardson, accumulated land along the Princeton Ridge. In 1957 they donated {{convert|82|acre}} to establish the Herrontown Woods Arboretum, the first and one of the largest nature preserves in Princeton, New Jersey.{{cite news|title=Large Tract Donated|url=http://papersofprinceton.princeton.edu/princetonperiodicals/cgi-bin/princetonperiodicals?a=d&d=TownTopics19570728-01.2.4&srpos=6&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-IN-Arboretum----#|access-date=19 April 2014|newspaper=The Town Topics|date=28 July 1957}}

Veblen was a Plenary Speaker of the ICM in 1928 in Bologna and in 1936 in Oslo.{{cite book|last=Veblen|first=Oswald|chapter=Spinors and projective geometry|title=In: Comptes rendus du Congrès international des mathématiciens: Oslo, 1936|volume=1|pages=111–127|year=1937}}

Veblen died in Brooklin, Maine, in 1960 at age 80. After his death the American Mathematical Society created an award in his name, called the Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry. It is awarded every three years, and is the most prestigious award in recognition of outstanding research in geometry.

During his career, Veblen made important contributions in topology and in projective and differential geometries, including results important in modern physics. He introduced the Veblen axioms for projective geometry and proved the Veblen–Young theorem. He introduced the Veblen functions of ordinals and used an extension of them to define the small and large Veblen ordinals. In World War II he was involved in overseeing ballistics work at the Aberdeen Proving Ground that involved early modern computing machines, in particular supporting the proposal for creation of the pioneering ENIAC electronic digital computer.Mac Lane (1964), pg 333.{{cite web|url=https://www.arl.army.mil/www/default.cfm?page=148|title=ARL Computing History|date=2010|department=The Computer, from Pascal to von Neumann|website=Arl.Army.mil|access-date=2019-09-09}}[https://ftp.arl.army.mil/~mike/comphist/hist.html "The History of Computing at BRL"] , [Mike Muuss] He also published a paper in 1912 on the four-color conjecture.

Veblen was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1912, the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1919, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1923.{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Oswald+Veblen&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}{{Cite web |title=Oswald Veblen |url=https://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001672.html |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=www.nasonline.org}}{{Cite web |date=2023-02-09 |title=Oswald Veblen |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/oswald-veblen |access-date=2023-11-22 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}

In 1908, he married Elizabeth Richardson, the sister of British physicist Owen Willans Richardson and sister-in-law of American physicist Clinton Joseph Davisson.{{cite web | author=Nobel Foundation | title=Owen Willans Richardson: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1928 | url=http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1928/richardson-bio.html | work=Les Prix Nobel | year=1928 | access-date=April 25, 2016}}{{cite web | author=Nobel Foundation | title=Clinton Joseph Davisson: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1937 | url=http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1937/davisson-bio.html | work=Les Prix Nobel | year=1937 | access-date=April 25, 2016}}

The Veblen Research Instructorship is a three-year position offered by the Department of Mathematics at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. This position was established in 1998 and offered each year to outstanding candidates in pure and applied mathematics who have received their PhD within the last three years.

The Veblen instructors are Members of the Institute for Advanced Study and regular faculty members at Princeton University. The first and third year of the instructorship are spent at Princeton University and carry regular teaching responsibilities. The second year is spent at the Institute and dedicated to independent research of the instructor's choice.{{cite web |title=Veblen Research Instructorships |url=https://www.ias.edu/math/vri |website=Institute for Advanced Studies |date=8 November 2018 |access-date=15 October 2021}}

• [http://historical.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cul.math/docviewer?did=00420002&view=50&frames=0&seq=5 Introduction to infinitesimal analysis; functions of one real variable] with N. J. Lennes (John Wiley & Sons, 1907){{cite journal|author=Pierpont, James|author-link=James Pierpont (mathematician)|title=Review: Introduction to infinitesimal analysis, functions of one real variable|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1908|volume=15|issue=3|pages=133–134|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1908-15-03/S0002-9904-1908-01710-5/|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1908-01710-5|doi-access=free}}
• [http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ACV5447.0001.001 Projective geometry] with John Wesley Young (Ginn and Co., Vol. 1, 1910;{{cite journal|author=Coolidge, Julian Lowell|author-link=Julian Coolidge|title=Review: Projective Geometry, Vol. 1|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1911|volume=18|issue=2|pages=70–81|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1911-18-02/S0002-9904-1911-02156-5|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1911-02156-5|doi-access=free}} Vol. 2, 1918{{cite journal|author=Moore, R. L.|author-link=Robert Lee Moore|title=Review: Projective Geometry, Vol. 2|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1920|volume=26|issue=9|pages=412–425|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1920-26-09/S0002-9904-1920-03332-X|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1920-03332-x|doi-access=free}})
• Analysis Situs (American Mathematical Society, 1922;{{cite journal|author=Lefschetz, S.|author-link=Solomon Lefschetz|title=Review: Analysis Situs, by O. Veblen|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1924|volume=30|issue=7|pages=357–358|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1924-30-07/S0002-9904-1924-03901-9/|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1924-03901-9|doi-access=free|url-access=subscription}} 2nd edn. 1931)
• Invariants of Quadratic Differential Forms (Cambridge University Press, 1927){{cite journal|author=Taylor, J. H.|author-link=James Henry Taylor|title=Review: Invariants of Quadratic Differential Forms, by O. Veblen|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1929|volume=35|issue=3|page=416|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1929-35-03/S0002-9904-1929-04779-7|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1929-04779-7|doi-access=free}}
• The Foundations of Differential Geometry with J. H. C. Whitehead (Cambridge University Press, 1932){{cite journal|author=MacDuffee, C. C.|author-link=Cyrus Colton MacDuffee|title=Review: The Foundations of Differential Geometry, by O. Veblen and J. H. C. Whitehead|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1933|volume=39|issue=5|pages=322–324|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1933-39-05/S0002-9904-1933-05600-8/|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1933-05600-8|doi-access=free}}
• Projektive Relativitätstheorie (Springer Verlag, 1933){{cite journal|author=Struik, D. J.|author-link=Dirk Jan Struik|title=Review: Projektive Relativitätstheorie, by O. Veblen|journal=Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.|year=1934|volume=40|issue=3|pages=191–193|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1934-40-03/S0002-9904-1934-05803-8/|doi=10.1090/s0002-9904-1934-05803-8|doi-access=free}}

• Hughes plane
• Finite geometry
• Ordered geometry
• Hall plane of order 9

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{{commons category|Oswald Veblen}}

• {{MacTutor Biography|id=Veblen}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070622071536/http://infoshare1.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/finding_aids/mathoral/pmcxveblen.htm Obituary and Bibliography of Oswald Veblen] (also available [https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/1963-69-01/S0002-9904-1963-10838-1/S0002-9904-1963-10838-1.pdf here].)
• {{Gutenberg author |id=8217| name=Oswald Veblen}}
• {{Internet Archive author |sname=Oswald Veblen}}
• [http://neo-classical-physics.info/uploads/3/0/6/5/3065888/veblen_-_projective_relativity.pdf "Projective relativity theory," transl. by D. H. Delphenich]
• {{MathGenealogy|id=805}}

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Category:20th-century American mathematicians

Category:American topologists

Category:American geometers

Category:Ballistics experts

Category:1880 births

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Category:Institute for Advanced Study faculty

Category:People from Decorah, Iowa

Category:University of Iowa alumni

Category:Harvard University alumni

Category:University of Chicago alumni

Category:Princeton University faculty

Category:American people of Norwegian descent

Category:Presidents of the American Mathematical Society

Category:Mathematicians from Iowa

Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society