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508:, and of its most distinguished faculty member, Albert Einstein, until its separate building was completed in 1939. The other founding faculty member, and the person who convinced the funders to situate the IAS in Princeton, was Oswald Veblen, one of Fine’s original preceptors. Whereas he had been drawn to Germany for his PhD in the 1880s, shortly after his death, Princeton University and the Institute of Advanced Study surpassed Göttingen as the world’s center of mathematical physics.
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Education Board and
Rockefeller Foundation to support Princeton’s growing science programs. As a consequence, in the 1920s only the University of Chicago attracted more National Research Council Fellowships and no Princeton application was rejected. In addition to his duties as Dean of Science, Fine served on numerous campus committees, especially chairing the Board of Athletic Control. In the community he served on and chaired the Board of Education for many years.
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440:, and replacing several senior faculty members. Wilson convinced the Trustees to hire 50 new young faculty members he called ‘preceptors’. The addition of this large number of young, enthusiastic junior faculty had a significant impact on the quality, focus and seriousness of Princeton at both the undergraduate and
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Fine continued teaching, publishing leading textbooks and occasional articles, and building his departments. The
Department of Mathematics’ prestige led, in 1921, to it hosting Albert Einstein’s first American lectures. In the 1920s, Fine was particularly successful in raising money from the General
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However, Wilson lost his attempt to reduce the influence of
Princeton’s undergraduate ‘eating clubs’ and to have the Graduate College constructed in the middle of campus. When Wilson left to enter politics, Fine became acting president in all but name, while also serving as President of the American
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His sister had founded Miss Fine’s School and his brother founded
Princeton Preparatory School. Bicycling to visit the latter on a dark December evening in 1928 he was struck and killed by a car. In response, his close friend and wealthy Princeton Trustee, Thomas D. Jones, funded construction of
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Because Wilson lacked interest in science and mathematics, he delegated the preceptor appointments to Fine, giving him the opportunity to transform
Princeton's programs in those fields. Fine had an extraordinary ability to identify talented individuals in these fields and a commitment to promoting
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of
Mathematics in 1885 and soon established himself as a leader in the faculty, ultimately named the Dod Professor of Mathematics in 1898. In addition, his reputation beyond Princeton grew through publications and his role as one of the founding members of the
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for the rest of his career. With Hibben's ascendance, Fine became in reality what he had long been, Dean of the
Departments of Science, a position he held until his death 1928. He remained deeply loyal to Princeton, turning down offers of the presidency of
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Fine Hall, arguably the finest mathematics building in the country. Jones' response to cost overruns was "nothing is too good for Harry Fine. Finished in 1931, Fine Hall served as the first home of the new
Institute of Advanced Study
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476:. His time was increasingly focused on administration and the controversies that eventually dragged down the Wilson presidency. He and Wilson won one battle, gaining control of the Graduate School from Wilson’s archenemy,
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415:(Class of 1879) that led to his subsequent impact on Princeton and American scholarship. Fine, (Class of 1880), one year behind Wilson, assisted him as a junior and then succeeded him as Managing Editor of the
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their careers. His initial preceptorial appointments all went on to become respected mathematicians and when some vacancies developed, he replaced them with similar young talent. He also recruited established
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Mathematical
Society. Although Fine had loyally supported Wilson’s losing proposals and was a leading candidate to become president, he then loyally supported President
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and
European mathematicians. By 1911, Princeton’s Department of Mathematics ranked as one of the top three in America and had become the home of the prestigious
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In addition, Fine jump-started Princeton’s weak science departments by recruiting some leading scientists, including mathematical physicist James Jeans
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accurately recognized Fine’s role both in training American mathematicians to provide international leadership to this field and in building
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as the Dean of the College. They set about transforming Princeton by raising academic standards, revising the
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as well as Wilson’s offers to name him Ambassador to Germany and to the Federal Reserve Board.
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Henry Burchard Fine (1858 – 1928) played a critical role in modernizing the American
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After graduation, Fine remained at Princeton (then called the College of
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and served as its President in 1911–1912. Among his publications were:
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258:On the singularities of curves of double curvature
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1495:Members of the American Philosophical Society
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515:in 1897. He was one of the founders of the
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321:nations”. This tribute in Oswald Veblen’s
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402:He returned to Princeton as an Assistant
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
707:MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
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383:was the leading center of mathematics
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743:Works by or about Henry Burchard Fine
633:– via timesmachine.nytimes.com.
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563:, with Henry Dallas Thompson (1909)
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47:adding citations to reliable sources
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34:needs additional citations for
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341:lectures, and eventually his
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16:American mathematician
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669:"APS Member History"
625:. September 26, 1935
474:Henry Norris Russell
360:, but a mathematics
245:Princeton University
198:Princeton University
43:improve this article
1016:Luther P. Eisenhart
925:Henry Burchard Fine
901:William Fogg Osgood
850:George William Hill
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718:Henry Burchard Fine
696:O'Connor, John J.;
658:, October 30, 1931.
478:Andrew Fleming West
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552:A College Algebra
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41:Please help
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315:mathematics
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678:2024-02-28
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