On Thursday evening, Sept. 4, historian Cindy Srnka and I (Steve Hiltner) gave a talk to a standing room only crowd about two extraordinary people, one of whom audience members surely knew very well, and another they may have never heard of. The talk was hosted by the Princeton Public Library.
A videotape of the talk is in the works, but in the meantime, below is my portion of the talk.
"He was a little deceptive … He had a rather hesitant way of speaking, very tentative and diffident, but he really was an extremely forceful man. I think he played a great part in building up the Department at Princeton. He's not the only one who helped, but I think he was one of the strongest forces in that."– Deane Montgomery, mathematician, IAS
That you haven’t heard of Oswald Veblen and his extraordinary legacy has to do with his uncanny ability to fly under the radar. Though he had a vital role in building the math department in Princeton from small beginnings in 1905 to a world center in 1931, he was never the department chair. And though it was his vision that triumphed in the evolution of the Institute for Advanced Study, he was never director. His aim was to advance mathematics and the careers of talented mathematicians, and he worked tirelessly behind the scenes to achieve that. He did not mind being overshadowed by the great mathematicians he brought to Princeton–people like Hermann Weyl, John von Neumann, and Kurt Godel.
“I think the nicest part about Veblen is that however great a mathematician he was, and he certainly was a great mathematician, he recognized greatness in mathematicians and in scientists, and as far as I know he had no envy for people who were greater than he.”
-Hermann Goldstein, mathematician and computer scientist
Oswald Veblen’s greatest achievement, realizing his dream for a mathematical institute through the Institute for Advanced Study, also long lay hidden because it was the Institute’s founding director, Abraham Flexner (standing in the middle in the photo), whose version of events prevailed.
For some reason, perhaps for the sake of a simplified storyline, Abraham Flexner’s version of events was taken as gospel in Einstein biographies. The story of Oswald Veblen was lost.
STEVE BATTERSON
And so the story of Oswald Veblen slept in the archives of the Institute for Advanced Study and the Library of Congress. But in 2007, mathematician Steve Batterson wrote an article entitled “The Vision, Insight, and Influence of Oswald Veblen.” His aim was to refamiliarize readers with Veblen, the renowned mathematician who by the time he retired in 1950 had become known around the world as the “Statesman of Mathematics.”
I first came to appreciate Veblen’s significance when I began research for a book on the origins of the Institute for Advanced Study. In discussing my project with others it became evident that Veblen’s contributions were largely unknown to the mathematicians of today. Oswald was frequently confused with his more famous uncle, economist Thorstein Veblen.
- Steve Batterson, 2007
By coincidence, it was also 2007 when I first learned about Veblen, not through mathematics but by happening upon a house out in the woods, up along the ridge in northeastern Princeton. One thing I’ve done in Princeton is conduct plant inventories of most of the nature preserves, and back in 2007 I was in Herrontown Woods when I came upon a house in the forest, boarded up, abandoned. The preserve was neglected as well, with trails overgrown. I contacted the county, which owned the preserve at the time, and learned that the Veblens had donated Herrontown Woods–nearly 100 acres in their time–as Princeton’s first nature preserve in 1957. Finding that house made me curious. Searching the internet, casting names into google to see what came up, I became something of a history buff. My research into the Veblens became my window into an era I otherwise would have known little about. In 2013, a few of us formed the Friends of Herrontown Woods, began reopening the trails, and fought successfully to keep the house from being demolished. The Veblens had donated the house to become a museum, gathering place, and library, and that is the dream of our nonprofit as well.
“Princeton’s computing story begins not with Alan Turing, Alonzo Church, John von Neumann, or Albert Einstein, but with Oswald Veblen”2012 was another big year in rediscovering another facet of Veblen’s legacy. Princeton University hosted an Alan Turing Centennial to celebrate the birth of the brilliant mathematician Alan Turing, who is considered the father of theoretical computer science. I missed the conference, but was astonished to later learn that Oswald Veblen had been celebrated at the conference for his computer-related ballistics work for the military in WWI.
-Jon R. Edwards, “An early history of computing at Princeton”
Alan Turing Centennial
I encountered another lost story of Veblen at an extraordinary building on the Princeton University campus now called Jones Hall.
“Every little door knob, every little gargoyle, every little piece of stained glass that has a word on it, was something that Veblen personally supervised,”- Herman Goldstine
The Fine Hall that opened in 1931 was a dream Oswald Veblen had been dreaming and refining for many years prior. Veblen, who had traveled many times to Europe and studied closely the architecture and workings of its great universities, incorporated elements particularly from Oxford and Gottingen. Wanting to advance mathematics, Veblen designed a building that would meet the physical, emotional, and social needs of the scholars who would use it. Prior to the building of Fine Hall, most math professors lacked offices and had to work out of their homes. Fine Hall served as home not only to the math department but also the Institute for Advanced Study for its first eight years. The building’s size, comfort, and design, reflecting Veblen’s vision, was a critical component in making Princeton uniquely attractive to Einstein and other great scholars.
Veblen wanted the mathematicians in Fine Hall to be able to "... group themselves for mutual encouragement and support. [It had to be a place where] the young recruit and the old campaigner [could have] those informal and easy contacts that are so important to each of them." However he also wanted a room reserved for professors since "... not always understood by those who try to bring about closer relations between faculty and students [is] that in all forms of social intercourse the provisions for privacy are as important as those for proximity."
There was another facet of Veblen’s career I had not been aware of. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Veblen sprung into action to help find positions for displaced European scholars, not only in Princeton and at the newly formed Institute, but across the country. Elyse Graham has done some wonderful research on this, and Cindy will treat you to some of these stories.
So, who was this Oswald Veblen who achieved all these extraordinary things? Born and raised in Iowa, Oswald was the oldest of eight children, raised by a father who was the oldest of ten children. Oswald’s grandparents had immigrated from Norway and homesteaded in Wisconsin and Minnesota, building a progression of farms. Oswald’s father taught physics and math at the University of Iowa. He came from a family of educators and deep thinkers. Oswald graduated from the University at age 18, and despite his youth, won prizes in math and sharpshooting. He brought from the midwest a love of the outdoors, and a freedom from the conventions, formality, and prejudice that burdened some eastern establishments. Women, African Americans–he would in his career be an advocate for great mathematical talents like Emmy Noether and William Claytor.
HENRY FINE
Oswald Veblen arrived in academia at the dawn of the American century, when University education was in its infancy. The University of Chicago had opened its doors only eight years prior. And when Veblen arrived in Princeton in 1905, Woodrow Wilson and Henry Fine were ushering in a new era for the University. A host of young mathematical talent came through Princeton. Some stayed, while others went on to lead math programs at other institutions.
THE BRITISH CONNECTION
Through his marriage to Elizabeth Mary (“May”) Richardson, who had grown up in Yorkshire, England, Oswald fell in love not only with Elizabeth but also with England.
Oswald Veblen arrived in academia at the dawn of the American century, when University education was in its infancy. The University of Chicago had opened its doors only eight years prior. And when Veblen arrived in Princeton in 1905, Woodrow Wilson and Henry Fine were ushering in a new era for the University. A host of young mathematical talent came through Princeton. Some stayed, while others went on to lead math programs at other institutions.
Through his marriage to Elizabeth Mary (“May”) Richardson, who had grown up in Yorkshire, England, Oswald fell in love not only with Elizabeth but also with England.
One novel way of measuring Oswald Veblen’s legacy as a mathematician is through the Mathematics Genealogy Project.
I want to mention the California Institute of Technology, which throughout the 1920s had been trying to attract Einstein to California. Einstein had options beyond CalTech and Princeton, but these were the main two that I know of.
In the early 1930s, as the Nazis rose to power, ultimately driving jewish scholars out of German universities and putting a price on Einstein’s head, it was not a given that Einstein would end up coming to Princeton.
“In Pasadena, Einstein went to see Upton Sinclair, a writer who described and criticized the injustices of brutal capitalism and its terrible effects of poverty among the working class. They had in common abstinence from alcohol and meat. Einstein also went to see the movie All Quiet on the Western Front, based on a book that was banned in Germany at the time. He also wrote to the governor to exonerate the labor leader Tom Mooney who had been falsely convicted and sentenced to death of the San Francisco preparedness day bombing of 1916. The press, the governor, and Millikan expressed their displeasure to Einstein for doing these things and associating with these people.”
–Diana Buchwald
COLLECTED IMPETUSES
While researching this presentation, I collected a list of factors that likely played into Einstein’s decision to move to Princeton.
- Displaced from Berlin and his beloved country home in Caputh
- World-class math department at Princeton University
- Newly formed Institute for Advanced Study
- Good impressions of Princeton in 1921
- John D. Davies, PAW-"when Albert Einstein landed in New York in 1921, he told reporters he wanted to lecture at Princeton because its faculty first gave his theories American support."
- Relationship developed with Veblen over time
- (Old) Fine Hall accommodations and community
- Turned off by more conservative community of donors at CalTech
- More rural, Carnegie Lake (loved to sail)
- Einstein's notorious love of informality in dress and demeanor
LANDMARKS AROUND TOWN
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