Davis, Harold T. (Harold Thayer), 1892-1974

Colorado College graduate, Class of 1915; Professor of Mathematics, University of Indiana, Northwestern and Trinity Universities; founding member of the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics.

From the description of Harold Thayer Davis papers, Pt. 2, 1924-1969. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 51176134

Davis earned his Harvard AM in 1919.

From the description of The construction of tables, with special reference to tables of elliptic integrals, submitted April 6, 1920 / by Harold T. Davis. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 77075409

Harold Thayer Davis was born in Beatrice, Nebraska on October 5, 1892. After graduating from Colorado College in 1915, he received his master's degree at Harvard in 1919 and his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1926. He was employed as an instructor in mathematics at the University of Wisconsin from 1920 to 1923, and then worked at Indiana University from 1923 to 1937 where he became a full professor of mathematics. After one semester as acting professor of econometrics at Colorado College, he was appointed professor of mathematics at Northwestern University in 1937, becoming Chairman of the Department in 1940. Following his retirement from Northwestern University in 1955 he served in a similar capacity at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Davis died on November 14, 1974 in Bloomington Indiana and was survived by a son and daughter.

Davis was a prolific writer; his publications include sixty volumes, along with an equal number of treatises. His writings ranged from a twenty volume ‘Encyclopedia of Mathematical Functions and Their Tables’ to a series of published Christmas tales.

For more information on Harold T. Davis read “Harold Thayer Davis and the Least Squares Estimation of Non-Linear Equations” and “Proposed Running Head: Harold Thayer Davis” by R. W. Farebrother filed in Box One of this series.

From the guide to the Harold T. Davis (1892-1974) Papers, 1924-1974, (Northwestern University Archives)