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Department of Mathematics

History

The Department of Mathematics was established in 1875. The department is in the College of Arts and Science, the largest of Vanderbilt’s 10 colleges and schools. Following is a list of some important historical milestones of the department:

  • The first Ph.D. degree in mathematics awarded by Vanderbilt was in 1953 to James Robert Wesson. The title of his dissertation was “Finite Plane Projective Geometries.” His advisor was Eugene Baylis Shanks.
  • Vanderbilt’s first distinguished professor of mathematics, Bjarni Jónsson, was hired in 1966.
  • In 1970, the Department of Applied Mathematics (housed in Vanderbilt’s School of Engineering) merged into the Department of Mathematics.
  • Faculty member Richard Arenstorf won a NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement for computing the so-called Arenstorf trajectories and his role in bringing Apollo 13 home. Many in the department were crowded around a television watching the mission when Richard walked in and announced: “It’s all okay – we know how to get them back!”
  • In 1971, the department moved to its current location in Stevenson Center 1 (depicted in the artwork below).

old sketch of Stevenson Center