Straddling centuries: The struggles of a mathematician and his university to enter the ranks of research mathematics, 1870–1950

Abstract

This paper weaves two interlocking histories together. One strand of the fabric traces the development of the American mathematician Joseph B. Reynolds from a peripheral player to an active contributor to mathematics, astronomy, and engineering and to the founding of a sectional association of mathematicians. The other piece describes the evolution of his institution, Lehigh University, from its founding in 1865 to a full-fledged research department that began producing doctorates in 1939. Both Reynolds and Lehigh straddled the line between the pre- and post-Chicago eras in American mathematics.