Professor Clarence Abiathar Waldo (January 21, 1852 - October 1,1926) was an American mathematician, author and educator today most famous for the role he played in the Indiana Pi Bill affair.
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Life and career
Born in Hammond, New York, Waldo married Abby Wright Allen (1856-?) in Stamford, Connecticut in 1881. In 1884 they had a daughter, Alice J. Waldo. Waldo received his A.B. (1875) and A.M. (1878) degrees from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. (1893) from Syracuse University. He was tutor at the Department of Mathematics of Wesleyan University from 1877 to 1881. In 1888 Waldo published A manual of descriptive geometry, with numerous problems. Waldo is listed in the Terre Haute, Indiana city directories for 1890 and 1892 as professor of mathematics and librarian at Rose Polytechnic Institute. He served at Rose between 1883 and 1891. In 1895, Waldo became head professor of mathematics at Purdue University and served there until 1908, when he moved to Washington University, remaining there until he retired in 1917. Waldo was a charter member of the Indiana Academy of Science and served as the Academy's president in 1897. He achieved a modicum of fame that year when he explained to members of the Indiana State Senate why a bill to redefine the value of pi should not be adopted. Waldo died in New York City.
See also
Book
- Clarence A. Waldo, A manual of descriptive geometry, with numerous problems, Boston: D.C. Heath and Co., 1888, 1895, 77 pages.
References
- Weslayan University Science Faculty, 1831-1961
- Visher, Stephen Sargent, Indiana Scientists: A Biographical Directory and an Analysis, Indianapolis: Indiana Academy of Science, 1951.
