William Story
April 29, 1850 - April 11, 1930
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Scientific Discipline: Mathematics Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1908)
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William Story played a vital role in the first mathematical revolution in the United States. He was one of the first mathematicians to participate in and foster active mathematical research and education instead of solely teaching the mathematics of past generations. Story supervised mathematical graduate programs at prestigious universities and advised many groundbreaking mathematicians as they pursued their doctorates.
Story graduated from Harvard University with honors in 1871. He then traveled to Germany and attended the University of Leipzig, where he earned his PhD in 1875 for his dissertation, “On the algebraic relations existing between the polars of the binary quintic.” Upon the opening of the Johns Hopkins University in 1876, he was appointed associate professor of mathematics. He contributed many mathematical papers and founded the American Journal of Mathematics, which he also served as editor from 1878 to 1882. When Clark University was established, he was offered a position to run the mathematics graduate program and served there from 1889 to 1892.
