Harold Davis
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| Davis |
Harold T Davis (1892-1974) came to study at Colorado College in 1910, attracted by the reputation of Florian Cajori. After graduating as a mathematics major in 1915 he studied at Harvard, and pursued a career as a mathematician with interests in tables, econometrics (he was acting professor of econometrics at Colorado College in 1936-37 and participated in the Cowles Commission) and other applications of mathematics. His books include Essays in the History of Mathematics (1948), Nonlinear and Differential Equations (1961), and an unpublished calculus textbook whose manuscript is held in the Special Collections, Tutt Library. In 1960 he delivered the second (and last) annual Cajori lecture at Colorado College.
Davis's future was perhaps foretold in the 'Pike's Peak Nugget' for 1914, when he was a CC Junior, which told the story of how
They came to Hagerman Hall about two o'clock and hastened to room 23. In the room, lighted by a single candle, they found a little weazen fellow tracing the lines of Euclid with his nose. In one hand he held a slide rule, and in the other two pencils conected by a series of cords. One of the men touched him on the shoulder and the mathematician murmured a formula; they shook him and gave an equation; they whispered "rough house," and he sprang from his chair yelling: "Everybody out! Rough house!"
Davis recorded his life and thoughts in his 1962 autobiography oddly titled The Adventures of an Ultra-Crepidarian, a somewhat obscure reference to his wide-ranging curiosity.