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Guide to the Eric Temple Bell Papers
MS 58
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Creator:
Bell, Eric Temple
Title: Eric Temple Bell papers,
Date (inclusive): 1918-1991
Extent:
10 document boxes, 1 flat, 1 carton
Abstract:
This archive contains manuscripts, and typescripts for many of Bell's works both mathematical and science fiction. The archive
also contains books authored by Bell and published in many languages (Turkish, German, Italian, Spanish, Italian, French,
Yugoslavian, and Finnish); books from Bell's personal reference library; and books authored by contemporary science fiction
authors and inscribed to Bell.
Physical location: Stored offsite at NRLF: Advance notice is required for access to these papers.
Repository:
University of California, Santa Cruz. University Library. Special Collections and Archives
Santa Cruz, California 95064
Collection number: MS 58
Language:
English
Born: Feb.7,1883 in Aberdeen, Scotland
Died: Dec.21,1960 in Watsonville, California, USA
Died: Dec.21,1960 in Watsonville, California, USA
The cowboys have a way of trussing up a steer or a pugnacious bronco which fixes the brute so that it can neither move nor
think. This is the hog-tie, and it is what Euclid did to geometry.
E.T. Bell,
The Search For Truth
Eric Temple Bell although born and brought up in Scotland, lived from 1903 in the United States. He was educated at Stanford University and at the University of Washington. He received his doctorate from Columbia University in 1912 for the dissertation
The Cyclotomic Quinary Quintic. His doctoral work
was supervised by Frank Nelson Cole. Bell taught mathematics at the University of Washington from 1912 until 1926, when he was appointed professor of mathematics at the
California Institute of Technology. Bell wrote several popular
books on the history of mathematics. He also made contributions to analytic number
theory, Diophantine analysis and numerical functions. The American Mathematical Society
awarded him the Bocher Prize in 1924 for his memoir,
Arithmetical Paraphrases, which appeared in the
Transactions of the American Mathematical Society in 1921. Although he wrote 250 research papers,
including the one which received the Bocher Prize, Bell is best remembered for his
books, and therefore as an historian of mathematics. His books
Algebraic Arithmetic (1927) and
The Development of Mathematics, (1940) became classics. At a
lower level he wrote books which included
Men of
Mathematics
(1937) and
Mathematics, Queen
and Servant of Science
(1951). Bell did not confine his writing to mathematics
and he also wrote science fiction. Under his best-known pseudonym, John Taine, he authored the following science fiction titles:
"His style is clear and exuberant, his opinions, whether we agree with them or not, are expressed forcefully, often with humor and a little gentle malice. He was no uncritical hero-worshipper being as quick to mark the opportunity lost as the ground gained, so that from his books we get a vision of mathematics as a high activity of the questing human mind, often fallible, but always pressing on the never-ending search for mathematical truth".
- The Cosmic Geoids [Fantasy Publishing Co. Inc., 1949] novel + story
- The Crystal Horde [Fantasy, 1952]
- a.k.a. White Lilly [Dover, 1966]
- The Forbidden Garden [Fantasy, 1947]
- G.O.G. 666 [Fantasy, 1954]
- The Gold Tooth [Dutton, 1927; Burr, 1929]
- The Greatest Adventure [Dutton, 1929; Ace; Dover]
- Green Fire [Dutton, 1928; Fantasy Publishing Co. Inc., 19521
- The Iron Star [Dutton, 1930; Fantasy Publishing Co. Inc., 1952; Hyperion]
- Seeds of Life [Fantasy, 1951; Galaxy Novel #13; Dover]
- The Time Stream [Buffalo, 1946; Dover; Garland, 1976]
- Quayle's Invention [Dutton, 1927]
- The Purple Sapphire [Dutton, 1924; Dover]
"His style is clear and exuberant, his opinions, whether we agree with them or not, are expressed forcefully, often with humor and a little gentle malice. He was no uncritical hero-worshipper being as quick to mark the opportunity lost as the ground gained, so that from his books we get a vision of mathematics as a high activity of the questing human mind, often fallible, but always pressing on the never-ending search for mathematical truth".
References:
Gillispie, Charles Coulston. Dictionary of Scientific Biography.New York:Scribner,1970-1980.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. "Bell, Eric Temple".[Accessed 22 October 1999].
Broadbent, A. "Eric Temple Bell". Nature 4763,1961.
Reid, Constance. The Search for E.T. Bell : also known as John Taine Washington D.C.:Mathematical Association of America,1993.
Gillispie, Charles Coulston. Dictionary of Scientific Biography.New York:Scribner,1970-1980.
Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. "Bell, Eric Temple".[Accessed 22 October 1999].
Broadbent, A. "Eric Temple Bell". Nature 4763,1961.
Reid, Constance. The Search for E.T. Bell : also known as John Taine Washington D.C.:Mathematical Association of America,1993.
This archive contains manuscripts, and typescripts for many of Bell's works both mathematical and science fiction. The archive
also contains books authored by Bell and published in many languages (Turkish, German, Italian, Spanish, Italian, French,
Yugoslavian, and Finnish); books from Bell's personal reference library; and books authored by contemporary science fiction
authors and inscribed to Bell.
Arrangement
The archive is arranged in three series: Manuscripts, Published Materials, and Hodgepodge.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Bell, Eric Temple, 1883-1960--Archives.
Taine, John
Mathematicians.
Mathematics--History.
Mathematics--Philosophy.
Number theory.
Science--Philosophy.
Science fiction.
Collection is open for research.
Gift of Drs. Janet and Taine Bell in May 1969.
Eric Temple Bell Papers, MS 58, Special Collections and Archives, University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the material, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
- Die grossen Mathematiker. Dusseldorf: Econ-Verlag, 1967. [ QA28.B415, Spec. Coll.]
- I Grandi Matematici.Traduzione di Dina Aduni. Firenze: Sansoni, 1966. [QA28.B416, Spec. Col.]
- The Handmaiden of the Sciences. Baltimore, Williams & Wilkins company, 1937. [QA7.B38, Spec. Col.]
- La Magie des Nombres. Traduction de Simone Fabre et Pierre Goyard. Paris: Payot, 1952. [QA9.B39314, Spec. Col.]
- La Mathematique, Reine et Servante des Sciences. Paris: Payot, 1953. [QA21.B4214, Spec. Col.]
- Matematiikan miehiä. Helka & Klaus Vala. Porvoo: W. Söderström Osakeyhtiö, 1963. [QA28.B4135, Spec. Col.]
- The Last Problem. London, Gollancz, 1962, c1961. [QA241.B42, Spec. Col.
- Numerology, the Magic of Numbers. New York, United Book Guild, 1945. [BF1623.P9B4 1945, Spec. Col.]
- Jeffers, Robinson. Descent to the Dead, Poems Written in Ireland and Great Britain. New York, Random House (1931) [PS3519.E27D43, Spec. Col.]