BELL, ERIC TEMPLE

born Feb. 7, 1883, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scot. died Dec. 21, 1960, Watsonville, Calif., U.S. Scottish-American mathematician, educator, and writer who discovered several important theorems in the field of number theory, a branch of mathematics dealing with the properties of integers. Bell immigrated to the United States at the age of 19 and immediately enrolled at Stanford University, where, after only two years, he earned his bachelor's degree. He received his master's degree from the University of Washington in 1908. Receiving his doctorate in mathematics from Columbia University in 1912, Bell immediately accepted a position at the University of Washington teaching mathematics. He held this position until 1926, when he was named professor of mathematics at the California Institute of Technology. Bell combined his teaching with mathematical research, developing and publishing his ideas on the theory of numbers. From 1931 to 1933 he served as president of the Mathematical Association of America. Bell published approximately 250 scholarly articles, many dealing with the theory of numbers. For his work "Arithmetical Paraphrases" he received the Bcher Prize in 1921. Two of his books, Algebraic Arithmetic (1927) and The Development of Mathematics (1940), became standards in the field, the latter outlining in clear, concise language what Bell believed to be the most significant trends in mathematics. Bell's works for the layman include Men of Mathematics (1937), which related important mathematical discoveries to the men responsible, and Mathematics, Queen and Servant of Science (1951), which popularized mathematics as both a practical and an esoteric discipline. He also wrote The Last Problem (1961), which based the history of the theory of numbers around the accomplishments of the 17th-century mathematician Pierre Fermat. Under the pen name of John Taine, Bell wrote many books of science fiction, including The Time Stream (1946).