Eric Temple Bell
Eric Temple Bell, born on February 7, 1883, in Peterhead, Scotland, was a notable mathematician and author, known for his contributions to number theory and for writing science fiction under the pseudonym John Taine. After relocating to the United States with his family in his early childhood, he pursued an education that culminated in a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1912. Bell had a distinguished academic career, serving as a mathematics professor at the University of Washington and later at the California Institute of Technology.
He gained recognition in the mathematics community, receiving the Bocher Memorial Prize in 1924, while also being a prolific writer. His literary works include poetry, mathematics textbooks, and numerous technical articles, alongside a series of popular science fiction novels that combined adventure and speculative themes. Notable works from his science fiction repertoire include "The Purple Sapphire" and "The Greatest Adventure."
Bell's influence extended beyond academia, as he was actively involved in various professional societies and received accolades for his writings on science. Even after retiring in 1953, he continued to engage in research, leaving a legacy characterized by both mathematical rigor and imaginative storytelling.
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Eric Temple Bell
Mathematician
- Born: February 7, 1883
- Birthplace: Peterhead, Scotland
- Died: December 20, 1960
- Place of death: Watsonville, California
Biography
Eric Temple Bell, who wrote fiction under the pseudonym John Taine, was born in Peterhead, a small town in northern Scotland, on February 7, 1883. His father, James Bell, Jr., was a manager involved in the wholesale fish processing business, and his mother, Helen Jane Lindsay Lyall Taine, was the daughter of a local schoolmaster. Within two years of his birth, the family emigrated to the United States and settled in San Jose, California, where Bell’s father operated a small orchard. When Bell, Sr., died in 1896, the family moved back to England and Bell completed his primary and secondary education at Bedford, where he was mentored by mathematician E. M. Langley. Bell returned to the United States in 1902, earning a B.S. from Stanford University in 1904, a M.S. from the University of Washington in 1907, and a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1912. In 1910 he married Jesse Lillian Smith Brown, with whom he had one son. Bell held a variety of teaching and business positions until 1912, when he became a full-time mathematics instructor at the University of Washington. He earned a position as a full professor in mathematics in 1922 and taught at Washington until 1926, but also held visiting professorships at the University of Chicago and Harvard University in those years. Bell earned distinction for his work in numbers theory and was awarded the Bocher Memorial Prize by the American Mathematical Society in 1924. He was also a prolific writer. His first published books, Recreations (1915) and The Singer (1916), were volumes of poetry. He also wrote several mathematics textbooks and a number of popular books on science and mathematics. Eventually, he published nearly three hundred technical articles. When Bell accepted a post of professor of mathematics at the California Institute of Technology in 1926, he had already written and published several science fiction novels, beginning with The Purple Sapphire (1924). In all, he would see more than dozen titles published under his pseudonym. John Taine. Six of his science fiction novels were first published in hardcover by Dutton between 1924 and 1930, which was a mark of distinction in a genre in which most authors published in pulp fiction magazines and only rarely secured book publication for their writing. These novels were popular for their blends of adventure, mystery, and wildly speculative science. They often featured evolutionary themes, as in The Greatest Adventure (1929) and The Forbidden Garden (1947) or world cataclysm as in Green Fire (1928) and The Crystal Horde (1930). Bell retired from teaching in 1953 but continued his research on numbers theory for Bell Laboratories for several years. He was awarded the gold medal by the Commonwealth Club of California at San Francisco in 1938 for his writings on science, and he was a member of many professional societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Mathematical Society, and the National Academy of Sciences.