G. B. Halsted

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

George Bruce Halsted (November 25, 1853 – March 16, 1922) was a mathematician who explored foundations of geometry and introduced Non-Euclidean geometry into the United States through his own work and his many important translations. Especially noteworthy were his translations and commentaries relating to non-Euclidean geometry, including works by Bolyai, Lobachevski, Saccheri, and Poincaré. He wrote an elementary geometry text, Rational Geometry, based on Hilbert's axioms, which was translated into French, German, and Japanese.

Halsted was a tutor and instructor at Princeton University. He held a mathematical fellowship while a student at Princeton. Halsted was a fourth generation Princeton graduate, earning his Bachelor's degree in 1875 and his Master's in 1878. He went on to Johns Hopkins University where he was J. J. Sylvester's first student, receiving his Ph.D. in 1879. After graduation, Halsted served as an instructor in mathematics at Princeton until beginning his post at the University of Texas at Austin in 1884.

He was a member of the University of Texas at Austin Department of Pure and Applied Mathematics (1884-1903), where he held the chair of pure and applied mathematics. He taught mathematicians R. L. Moore and L. E. Dickson among other students. He explored the foundations of geometry and and explored many alternatives to Euclid's development, culminating with his Rational Geometry. Halsted frequently contributed to the early American Mathematical Monthly. He completed his teaching career at St. John's College, Annapolis; Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio (1903-1906); and the Colorado State College of Education, Greeley (1906-1914).

Halsted was a member of the American Mathematical Society and served as vice president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.