History of the Cornell Mathematics Department

Mathematics has been an important part of Cornell from the University's beginnings 150 years ago. These pages tell about the history of the Department of Mathematics, its students, and its faculty.

• 150 Years in a Nutshell, a brief summary of the Department's history.
• Department Chairs from 1868 to the present time.
• Celebrating Mathematics Majors Men and women who studied mathematics as Cornell undergraduates.
• The history of the Graduate Program
• Noteworthy Graduate Students - Selected individuals who earned advanced degrees in mathematics at Cornell
• Noteworthy faculty members from 1868 through 1978.
• Women have been part of the Mathematics faculty at Cornell since 1917.
• Cornell Faculty and former graduate students at the International Congress of Mathematicians.
• The history of the Oliver Club.
• Historical Notes:
  • Chapter I: 1865-1895
  • Chapter II: 1895-1925
  • Chapter III: 1925-1955
  • Chapter IV: Research before World War II
• About Ernst Ritter, who died in 1895 while en route to Cornell.
• The history of the Cornell Mathematics Department as a case study of the emergence of the American mathematical community by Gary Cochell in Historia Mathematica.