A Conversation with Herbert Tate: Mathematics Educator and Builder

Abstract

1. IntroductionHerbert Tate studied mathematics at Trinity College, Dublin. After completing a Master of Arts, he moved to Montreal, Canada, in 1921 to teach mathematics in the newly created School of Commerce at McGill University. A pioneer of actuarial education on campus, he wrote four textbooks summarizing some of his teachings: Interest, Annuities and Bonds (Tate, 1929), Elements of the Mathematical Theory of Interest (Tate, 1937), Elementary Mathematical Analysis (Tate, 1946), and Mathematical Theory of Interest (Tate, 1947).Herbert Tate was a scholar but not a researcher by today's standards. His only entries on MathSciNet are solutions to problems in The American Mathematical Monthly published between 1936 and 1938; see Gelbart & Tate (1936), Claudian & Tate (1937), Levenson, Locke & Tate (1938), Musselman, Tate & Sparrow (1938), and Underwood & Tate (1938). Nonetheless, Herbert Tate was highly influential, both as an educator and as a builder of mathematics at McGill. He chaired the Mathematics Department from 1948 to 1960, in a period of rapid growth. Through his work and vision, the department got a head start in research on the Canadian scene and developed an enviable worldwide reputation that it holds to this day. Professor Tate retired in 1964 and was made Emeritus the following year. McGill still runs a loan fund in his name that gives special consideration to who, like the donor, begin a university education as mature students and require financial assistance.Below are excerpts from an unpublished interview of Herbert Tate that Lome Gales and Albert Tunis conducted at McGill on June 2, 1964. It is one of a handful of interviews with academic staff available only in reel-to-reel audiotape format from the McGill University Archives Audio Collection. The original quotes are verbatim but the material was reorganized somewhat to improve the flow. I also added occasional words and a few details in square brackets for clarification. Information about people mentioned in the interview is also provided wherever possible either via footnotes or Web links accessible by clicking on names in blue.Beyond its archival value, this interview reminds us of the extent to which both the infrastructures and the mentalities have changed, at least in Canada, over the past century. This paper is intended as a tribute to a man of his time, modest and efficient, who truly believed in mathematics education and devoted his entire life to it, with much success and - to this day - little recognition.2. RecruitmentQ: Professor Tate, I'd just like to take you back a bit in years. I find that rather interesting in talking to members of Faculty who've been here for some time to find out how they first came to come here. You know what I mean.T: Well, that's very interesting. I was brought to McGill primarily through the efforts of Professor R.M. Sugars [Associate Professor of Spanish], who was Director of the School of Commerce. He wanted somebody to take over mathematics in the School of Commerce and at that time - it was after the First World War - there was a world shortage of mathematicians. And he went to the Chairman of the [Mathematics] Department, who in those days was Professor James Harkness, and asked him if the department could get somebody to take charge of mathematics in the School of Commerce. I understand that Professor Harkness said it was impossible; he couldn't even get some people for his own division. Well then, Professor Sugars said: If that is the case, if you leave it in my hands, I will guarantee to get somebody. So he wrote to his old university, Trinity College in Dublin, and to the Vice-Provost [Thomas Thompson Gray], who, by the way, was a very famous classical scholar, who sent it on to the Professor of Mathematics who had been my tutor, and he said: If you wish to apply for this post, I will not approach anybody else. And that is the way I came to McGill. …