Math. Dept to mark century of excellence

As they rummaged through faded, yellowing Math Department documents two years ago, professors discovered a funny thing -- their department was due for a birthday. A centennial celebration, in fact. Mathematicians have been at the University for close to 250 years but the University did not separate mathematics as an intellectual discipline until 1899. Now, 100 years later, a day-long program of events tomorrow in College Hall will mark the climax of a year spent commemorating the history and achievements of Penn's mathematicians. Festivities will include a presentation by physicist Freeman Dyson and a roundtable discussion with distinguished scientists, including Pennsylvania State University Mathematics Department Chairperson George Andrews, a 1964 Penn alumnus, and Johns Hopkins Oncology Center Molecular Genetics Laboratory Director Bert Vogelstein, a 1974 College graduate. The department will kick off the celebration today by dedicating the David Rittenhouse Laboratories' Oscar Goldman Reading Room in honor of Goldman, the late chairperson who reigned during the 1960s. "[Oscar Goldman] created the modern Penn Math Department," noted current Mathematics Department Chairperson Dennis DeTurck, who added that the size of the department more than doubled under Goldman's leadership. DeTurck called the new room -- which was funded heavily by department contributions -- amazing. "You would never guess you were in DRL," he said, noting that it is the nicest room in the building that houses the Mathematics and Physics and Astronomy departments. Once it is formally dedicated, the room will be open to faculty and graduate students. The Math Department invited past professors and doctoral degree recipients, along with current faculty members and students, to Saturday's events. An evening banquet held at the Inn at Penn will cap the day's festivities. According to DeTurck, graduate students have been involved in planning the centennial celebration and will serve as "ushers and the Jerry Springer types" at Saturday's roundtable discussion. And this weekend, University President Judith Rodin will honor several world-renowned mathematicians with medals. Rodin will present Medals for Distinguished Achievement to Dyson -- known for his work in the quantum theory of electric and magnetic phenomena -- and mathematician Cathleen Synge Morawetz, the first female mathematician to receive the National Medal of Science. Both will also participate in Saturday's discussion. In preparation for this celebration, professors have spent months digging up a comprehensive record of mathematics at Penn. DeTurck said that in the early 1800s, the provost fired the entire faculty after professors complained of student infractions, like "leaving the math room and not returning" and "disturbing the math recitation by speaking when at his seat so as to disturb the exercises." Archives also revealed that the most advanced course at the inception of the department in 1899 was comparable to today's Math 240, DeTurck said. Mathematics Professors Frank Warner and Stephen Shatz, creators of a timeline highlighting 249 years of math at Penn, will display other departmental anecdotes on large, 28- by 38-inch plaques on Saturday and in event programs. Warner, who gathered a complete list of Penn's approximately 320 Math doctoral students, said many doctorates throughout history have gone on to impressive careers. "Our first Ph.D. became head of the department," he said of 1892 graduate Edwin Crawley, who went on to become the first Mathematics Department chairperson.