Person: Lehmer, Derrick Norman
Derrick Norman Lehmer was an American mathematician who worked in number theory.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Lehmer was awarded his Ph.D. in 1900 from the University of Chicago for his thesis Asymptotic Evaluation of Certain Totient-Sums.
- After the award of his doctorate Lehmer was appointed in 1900 as an instructor in mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley.
- 1904), Derrick Henry (b.
- Derrick Henry Lehmer became a famous mathematician and also has a biography in this archive.
- Lehmer was promoted to professor at Berkeley in 1918 and continued to teach there until he retired on 27 July 1937.
- Lehmer published Factors in 1909, and List of prime numbers from 1 to 10006721 in 1914.
- In 1917 Lehmer published An Elementary Course in Synthetic Projective Geometry.
- During the 1920s Lehmer worked on factor stencils which gave a method of factorising a number using cards with holes punched in them.
- Lehmer published Factor Stencils in 1929.
- Following on from the idea of factor stencils, Lehmer came up with another mechanical device to factor numbers.
- Construction of a machine which will perform these tedious tasks is insured by the grant of $1,000 to Dr Derrick N Lehmer of the Mathematics Department of the University of California by the Carnegie Institution of Washington D.
- The Derrick strain, if one may so indicate his descent from Hessian stock, accounts for his being a professor of mathematics and at one time Research Assistant of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, where among other things he made "Factor Tables for the First Ten Millions." The Norman strain in him accounts for his love of belles lettres, his creative work in the fields of music and poetry, the songs and operas he composed and the poems he wrote.
- Let us give a few more details of Lehmer's literary and musical achievements which are referred to in the above quote.
- Lehmer wrote two operas: The Necklace of the Sun : A Mayan Drama had its premiere at the Scottish Rite Auditorium, Oakland, on 28 February 1935.
- Lehmer received many honours for his mathematical work in number theory.
- Lehmer died at his home, 2736 Regent Street, Berkeley, after an extended illness.
Born 27 July 1867, Somerset, Indiana, USA. Died 8 September 1938, Berkeley, California, USA.
View full biography at MacTutor
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Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
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- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
