EPADEL:A Semisesquicentennial History, 1926-2000

The MAA⁶ has played a large role in my professional life since my undergraduate days at Pennsylvania Military College (shortened to PMC, but now called Widener University). Three serendipitous events formed the basis for my future involvement in the Association during my three years there.

The first occurred while I was in the school’s library doing research for a term paper in one of two required composition courses. Taking a break from Occam’s Razor, I perused the stacks in the school’s small library, which then consisted of only two rooms. Although a general science major, I maintained a strong interest in mathematics, so my eyes were drawn to the only magazine on mathematics in the stacks, the American Mathematical Monthly. I soon learned to call it a “journal” instead of a “magazine”. But I found the articles inscrutable. A year later, having scanned every issue of the journal upon its arrival, I asked Professor Claude Helms, then head of the department, “What’s topology?” “Some newfangled theory,” he replied offhandedly.

But Helms encouraged me to write Harry Gehman, whose name was listed on the cover of the Monthly. That led to the second event that would define my career, because the longtime MAA⁷ secretary-treasurer responded with a detailed, personal letter explaining the path I should follow to study topology. He also invited me to apply for membership in the MAA⁸. So began my first, tentative steps toward becoming a mathematician, though an algebraist and not a topologist. Upon transferring to Temple University, I elected a course with Dr. Marie Wurster, who taught me the critical ability to write proofs.

The third decisive event took place when the Temple chair, Dr. Walter Lawton, encouraged me to attend a sectional meeting of the MAA⁹. So, on a nasty, wind-swept November morning, I trudged to Haverford College to spend an entire Saturday immersed in words and concepts that belonged on a different planet. Yet the spirit of the speakers, especially Pincus Schub of Penn – a little, old man with big, young ideas – was infectious.

These three events - discovering the Monthly, joining the MAA¹⁰ and attending its sectional meetings - conspired to draw me ineluctably to the present work. They also highlighted the central role that individuals play in our professional development. It is my grandest hope that this book enables other sectional members to understand and to appreciate our rich heritage. I also hope that other mathematicians will learn about the important role this local microcosm has played in the more global American mathematical community.