Percey F. Smith

{{short description|American mathematician}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Percey F. Smith

| image = Percey Franklyn Smith (1867–1956).png

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| birth_name = Percey Franklyn Smith

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1867|8|21}}

| birth_place = Nyack, New York, US

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|6|3|1867|8|21}}

| death_place = Hamden, Connecticut, US

| burial_place =

| occupation = Mathematician

| awards =

| spouse = {{Marriage|Julia C. Lum|December 23, 1890}}

| children =

| education = Sheffield Scientific School

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}}

Percey Franklyn Smith (August 21, 1867 – June 3, 1956) was an American mathematician and professor of mathematics at Sheffield Scientific School of Yale University.{{Cite book|year=1899|chapter=Smith, Percey Franklyn|title=Universities and Their Sons: History, Influence and Characteristics of American Universities, With Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Alumni and Recipients of Honorary Degrees|editor=Chamberlain, Joshua L.|publisher=R. Herndon Company|location=Bosoton|pages=469–470|url=https://archive.org/details/universitiesthei02cham}}{{Cite book|year=1989|chapter=Mathematics and Yale in the nineteen twenties|author=Harold L. Dorwart|title=A Century of Mathematics in America|editor1=Peter L. Duren |editor2=Richard Askey |editor3=Uta C. Merzbach |editor3-link= Uta Merzbach |publisher=American Mathematical Soc|isbn=0821801309|pages=87–97}}

Smith was born in Nyack, New York. He studied mathematics at Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, finishing the regular course in 1888 and receiving the Doctor of Philosophy in 1891. Starting in 1888 he was instructor for mathematics in Yale until 1894, followed by academic studies in Germany and France at the universities of Göttingen, Berlin, Paris.Dorwart, p. 89 After returning to Yale in 1896 he was assistant professor of mathematics until 1900, then professor until 1936.Dorwart, pp. 91–92.

He wrote several papers related to Lie sphere geometry,{{Cite journal|author=Smith, Percey F.|year=1900|journal=Annals of Mathematics|title=On a Transformation of Laguerre|volume=1|issue=1/4|pages=153–172|url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-1967282|doi=10.2307/1967282|jstor=1967282}}{{Cite journal|author=Smith, Percey F.|year=1900|title=On Surfaces Enveloped by Spheres Belonging to a Linear Spherical Complex|journal=Transactions of the American Mathematical Society|volume=1|issue=4|pages=371–390|url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-1986361|doi=10.2307/1986361|jstor=1986361|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal|author=Smith, Percey F.|year=1901|journal=Annals of Mathematics|title=On Sophus Lie's Representation of Imaginaries in Plane Geometry|volume=3|issue=1/4|pages=166–179|url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-1967644 | doi = 10.2307/1967644|jstor=1967644}}{{Cite journal|author=Smith, Percey F.|year=1901|title=Geometry Within a Linear Spherical Complex|journal=Transactions of the American Mathematical Society|volume=2|issue=3|pages=235–248|url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-1986207 | doi = 10.1090/s0002-9947-1901-1500566-6 | mr = 1500566|doi-access=free}} and is the author of several textbooks such as The elements of analytic geometry (1904), New analytic geometry (1912), Theoretical mechanics (1910).{{OL_author|id=OL2338699A|cname=Percey F. Smith}}

He married Julia C. Lum on December 23, 1890.

He died at his home in Hamden, Connecticut on June 3, 1956.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-buffalo-news-percey-f-smith/172041513/ |title=Percey F. Smith |newspaper=The Buffalo News |place=Hamden, Connecticut |page=12 |date=1956-06-04 |access-date=2025-05-09 |via=Newspapers.com}}

The title "Percey F. Smith Professor of Mathematics" is still used in Yale.[http://news.yale.edu/2012/11/19/van-ha-vu-appointed-percey-f-smith-professorship-mathematics Van Ha Vu is appointed the Percey F. Smith Professorship of Mathematics] He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences.