Adler, Irving

Irving Adler (1913- ), an educator, mathematician, science writer and progressive activist, was born in New York City, attended City College (B.S., 1931) and received graduate degrees in mathematics from Columbia University (M.A., 1938; Ph.D., 1961). From 1932-1952 he taught mathematics in the New York City secondary schools and was an activist in the progressive Teachers' Union, and in 1953 was the National Director of the National Council of the Arts, Sciences and Professions. In 1954 he was suspended for refusing to cooperate with government investigations into teachers' political beliefs and associations. Reinstated in 1976, he then retired. In the 1950s Adler began a long and successful career as the author (frequently with his first wife Ruth Adler) of numerous popular books on mathematics and science (many for children), and also wrote What We Want of Our Schools: Plain Talk on Education, from Theory to Budgets (1957). Adler also published several scholarly papers on mathematics, book reviews, and articles on the philosophy of science and on dialectical materialism. Adler was a founding board member of the American Institute for Marxist Studies (AIMS) and a regular contributor to Science & Society (a Marxist quarterly). Moving to Vermont in the early 1960s, he continued his progressive activism locally, and through his philanthropic efforts helped to establish the City College Volunteers in Spain Memorial Scholarship and, at Dartmouth College, the Joseph Dallet Jr. 1927 Memorial Prize, each in honor of alumni who fought in the Spanish Civil War.

From the guide to the Irving Adler Papers, 1929-2009, (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives)

American author of children's and non-fiction.

From the description of Inside the nucleus : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686655

American author of children's and young non-fiction.

From the description of Irrigation : changing deserts into gardens : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490906

American author of children's and adult non-fiction.

From the description of Machines : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448765

From the description of Shadows : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490913

From the description of Hot and cold : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490904

From the description of Houses : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490905

From the description of Your eyes : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448773

From the description of Things that spin : from tops to atoms : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448771

From the description of Magnets : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448766

From the description of Insects and plants : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438649

From the description of Taste, touch, and smell : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448770

From the description of Tree products : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448772

From the description of Sets : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448768

From the description of Electricity in your life : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438643

From the description of Electromagnetic waves : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438644

From the description of Communication : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448759

From the description of The story of a nail : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438658

From the description of Hurricanes and twisters : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438647

From the description of Directions and angles : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438641

From the description of The earth's crust : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448760

From the description of The tools of science : from yardstick to cyclotron : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490915

From the description of Magic house of numbers : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490907

From the description of Electronics : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490902

From the description of The sun and its family : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490914

From the description of Papers, 1955-1980. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448758

From the description of How life began : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448764

From the description of Why? a book of reasons : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438661

From the description of Rivers : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490910

From the description of Rocks and minerals and the stories they tell : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490911

From the description of The environment : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490903

From the description of The new mathematics : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448767

From the description of Evolution : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448762

From the description of The stars : decoding their messages : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448769

From the description of Storms : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438656

From the description of Probability and statistics for everyman : how to understand and use the laws of chance : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438653

From the description of The secret of light : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438655

From the description of Numerals, new dresses for old numbers : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438651

From the description of The elementary mathematics of the atom : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62448761

From the description of The wonders of physics ; an introduction to the physical world ; production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438663

From the description of Weather in your life : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62438659

From the description of Seeing the earth from space : what the man-made moons tell us : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490912

From the description of Fire in your life : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686654

From the description of Language and man : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686656

From the description of Fibers : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686653

From the description of Man-made moons : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686658

From the description of Energy and power : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686652

From the description of Energy : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686651

From the description of Thinking machines : a layman's introduction to logic, Boolean algebra, and computers : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686661

From the description of Logic for beginners through games, jokes, and puzzles : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686657

From the description of Dust : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686650

From the description of Time in your life : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686662

From the description of Mathematics : the story of numbers, symbols, and space : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686659

From the description of The changing tools of science : from yardstick to synchrotron : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686649

From the description of Atoms and molecules : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686648

From the description of Why and how? : a second book of reasons : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403198

From the description of Monkey business : hoaxes in the name of science : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403190

From the description of Petroleum : gas, oil, and asphalt : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403192

From the description of Tools in your life : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403196

From the description of The giant golden book of mathematics : exploring the world of numbers and space : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403187

From the description of Sound and ultrasonics : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403194

From the description of The calendar : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403185

From the description of Numbers old and new : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403191

From the description of Heat : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403188

From the description of Coal : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403186

From the description of Atomic energy : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403184

From the description of Volcanoes and earthquakes : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62403197

From the description of Your ears : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490916

From the description of A new look at arithmetic : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490908

From the description of Color in your life : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490900

From the description of Oceans : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62490909

Irving Adler (1913- ), an educator, mathematician, science writer and progressive activist, was born in New York City, attended City College (B.S., 1931) and received graduate degrees in mathematics from Columbia University (M.A., 1938; Ph.D., 1961). From 1932-1952 he taught mathematics in the New York City secondary schools and was an activist in the Communist-led Teachers' Union, and in 1953 was the National Director of the Communist-led National Council of the Arts, Sciences and Professions. In 1954 he was fired for refusing to cooperate with government investigations into teachers' political beliefs and associations. Reinstated in 1976, he then retired.

In the 1950s Adler began a long and successful career as the author (frequently with his first wife Ruth Adler) of numerous popular books on mathematics and science (many for children), and also wrote What We Want of Our Schools: Plain Talk on Education, from Theory to Budgets (1957). Adler also published several scholarly papers on mathematics, book reviews, and articles on the philosophy of science and on dialectical materialism. Adler was a founding board member of the American Institute for Marxist Studies (AIMS) and a regular contributor to Science & Society (a Marxist quarterly). Moving to Vermont in the early 1960s, he continued his progressive activism locally, and through his philanthropic efforts helped to establish the City College Volunteers in Spain Memorial Scholarship and, at Dartmouth College, the Joseph Dallet Jr. 1927 Memorial Prize, each in honor of alumni who fought in the Spanish Civil War.

From the description of Papers, 1929-2002. (New York University, Group Batchload). WorldCat record id: 58780982

American author of children's and young adult non-fiction.

American author of children's and adult non-fiction.

From the description of The new mathematics : production material. (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis). WorldCat record id: 62686660

Irving Adler was born on April 27, 1913 in New York City. He received a B.S. from City College of New York (1931), and an M.A. and Ph.D. (1961) in Mathematics from Columbia University. Adler taught high school math in New York for twenty years and later taught math at Columbia University and Bennington College in Vermont. He married Ruth Relis in 1935. Adler began writing science books for children in 1952. His first publication The Secret of Light was written with the aim of presenting "scientific ideas simply" so they can be "readily understood" by young readers. Ruth Adler was a frequent contributor, co-author and illustrator for many of Adler's books. The Adler's "Reason Why" series covered many topics in science and math, and were written with a "simplicity of style" that provided accurate, up-to-date information that not only told of what is known about a given topic but how the facts were reasoned and established.

After Ruth Adler's death in 1968, Irving Adler continued to write; he collaborated on one book Language and Man (1970), with his second wife, Joyce Sparer Adler. Irving Adler believed that learning about science could be fun and that one should never "write down" to children. Throughout his career, Adler authored over 85 books on science and math, mostly for children. His works have been praised by critics for "presenting complex ideas in [an] accurate, comprehensible, and interesting fashion," and "for introducing young readers to math and science" with a unique "clarity and lack of condescension." He was awarded the National Science Teachers Association/Children's Book Council citations for Outstanding Science Books for Children (1972, 1975, 1980, 1990) and the New York State Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development award for Outstanding Contributions to Children's Literature (1961) with Ruth Adler. Irving Adler died on September 22, 2012.

From the guide to the Irving Adler papers, undated, 1954-1975, 1989-1995, (University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections [clrc])