Finding Aid for the Harry Bateman Papers 1906-1947
Processed by Carolyn K. Harding.
Caltech Archives
Archives
California Institute of Technology
1200 East California Blvd.
Mail Code 015A-74
Pasadena, CA 91125
Phone: (626) 395-2704
Fax: (626) 793-8756
Email: archives@caltech.edu
URL: http://archives.caltech.edu/
©2006
California Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Harry Bateman Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1906-1947
Collection number: 10018-MS
Creator: Bateman, Harry 1882-1946
Extent:
3.5 linear feet
Repository:
California Institute of Technology, Caltech Archives
Pasadena, California 91125
Abstract: Harry Bateman was a mathematical physicist and professor of physics, mathematics and aeronautics at the California Institute
of Technology (Caltech, originally Throop College), 1917-1946. The collection includes his manuscripts on binomial coefficients,
notes on integrals and related material (much of which was later published by Arthur Erdélyi); and a small amount of personal
correspondence. Also included are teaching materials and reprints.
Physical location: Archives, California Institute of Technology.
Language of Material:
Languages represented in the collection:
English French German
Access
The collection is open for research. Researchers must apply in writing for access.
Publication Rights
Copyright may not have been assigned to the California Institute of Technology Archives. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Caltech Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the California Institute of Technology Archives as the owner of the physical items and, unless explicitly stated otherwise,
is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Harry Bateman Papers, 10018-MS, Caltech Archives, California Institute of Technology.
Acquisition Information
The collection known as the Harry Bateman Papers was acquired in several installments. The single correspondence file (Box
1.1) was deposited in the Caltech Archives in June 1971 by the Department of Mathematics. The files in Box 1.2-1.10 were deposited
sometime shortly afterwards, circa 1972/1973. Materials in Box 1.11 through Box 4 were the gift of Caltech mathematics professor
W. A. Luxembourg in August 1977. Prof. Luxembourg received the List of Papers filed in Box 1.11 from the mathematician Arthur
Erdélyi, who was the editor of Bateman's posthumous papers (see Biographical Note). In August 1994 the lecture notes taken
by Edmund J. Pinney (Caltech PhD 1942, professor of mathematics at Berkeley, 1946-1988) during coursework under Bateman were
added to the collection, with the assistance of Prof. Joseph Zund of the Mathematics Department, New Mexico State University,
Las Cruces. A set of Bateman's reprints was added to the collection in January 2001.
Processing History
Processed by Carolyn K. Harding, 1977. Updated December 2006.
Original processing of Boxes 1-4 by Carolyn K. Harding, September 1977. Processing updated and revised December 2006, Caltech
Archives staff.
Biography
Harry Bateman was born May 29, 1882, in Manchester, England. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he earned his B.A.
in mathematics as Senior Wrangler in 1903 and his M.A. in 1906. After a further year of study in Paris and in Göttingen and
some teaching at Liverpool University, he came to the U.S. in 1911 to teach at Bryn Mawr College. From Bryn Mawr he went to
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore on a fellowship, and he earned his PhD there in physics in 1913. In 1917 he moved to
Pasadena, California, to take a professiorial position at Throop College, which would shortly become the California Institute
of Technology (1920). He held his appointment there in mathematics, physics, and aeronautics until his death on January 21,
1946.
Bateman displayed a wide range of mathematical interests, from geometry to integral equations. He was the author of many papers;
his studies included the application of integral equation theory to the propagation of earthquake waves, the mathematical
study of electrodynamics, hydrodynamics, dynamics and elasticity, and the problem of numerical computation. Perhaps his best
work centered around the development of the properties of special functions and the solution of the most important equations
of mathematical physics. His work in fluid mechanics was a basic factor in airplane design. Bateman was recognized by a number
of professional societies and organizations, including the Royal Society of London (fellow, 1928), the National Academy of
Sciences (fellow, 1930), and the American Mathematical Society (vice-president 1935; Gibbs Lecturer 1943).
At his death, Bateman left extensive notes for a monumental work on special functions. Recognizing the great need for the
completion of this important work, Caltech secured funding from the U.S. Office of Naval Research. The Hungarian-born mathematician
Arthur Erdélyi (1908-1977), then professor at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Edinburgh, was persuaded to
come to Caltech and to accept the task of editing these papers, which he accomplished with three assistants, beginning in
1949 and concluding with the publication of Higher Transcendental Functions (McGraw-Hill, 1953-55, 3 vols) and Tables of Integral
Transforms (McGraw-Hill, 1954, 2 vols). Erdélyi also held a professorial position in mathematics at Caltech until 1963, when
he returned to Edinburgh.
Scope and Content
The Harry Bateman Papers is an incomplete collection at best. Its order follows the sequence of its several acquisition phases,
and no attempt has been made to create a series arrangement. The surviving correspondence is only minimally representative
of Bateman's scientific contacts. It occupies Box 1, file 1 only. The majority of Bateman's letters were reported to have
been discarded by the mathematician Arthur Erdélyi, who otherwise preserved and edited Bateman's mathematical legacy for the
Bateman Manuscript Project (see below and Biographical Note). The correspondence files were turned over to the Caltech Archives
in June 1971 by Caltech's Department of Mathematics, along with some other miscellaneous manuscript materials that make up
the contents of Box 1, files 2-10. The remainder of Box 1 and Boxes 2-3 contain the notes left behind by Bateman at his death
for his monumental work on special functions. This material, under the title Bateman Manuscript Project, was eventually edited
and published under the supervision of Arthur Erdélyi. Boxes 4-5, both half boxes, contain miscellaneous Bateman materials
delivered by the Department of Mathematics at an unrecorded time. Boxes 6-7 contain lecture notes from six courses given by
Bateman at Caltech, 1938-1942, taken by his student Edmund J. Pinney (Caltech PhD, 1942; professor of mathematics, UC Berkeley,
1946-1988). The remaining box contains an incomplete set of Bateman's own reprints, arranged chronologically.
Related Material
Historical File on Harry Bateman. Historical File on Arthur Erdélyi.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
California Institute of Technology
Aeronautics
Mathematical physics
Mathematics
Occupations
Mathematicians
Box 1, Folder 1
Correspondence 1906-1947
- Ball, Rouse 1906
- Whittaker, E. T. 1907
- Levi-Civita, Tullio 1920
- Carson, John R. 1921
- Lorentz, H. A. 1925
- Guggenheim, Harry F. 1926
- Durand, W. F. 1926
- Bell, E. T. 1927
- Michelson, A. A. 1931
- Millikan, R. A. 1932
- Lomonosov, G. 1932
- Westgren, A. 1935
- Sirovich, W. I. 1935
- White, Percival 1935
- Naulty, E. F. 1935
- Rice, S. O. (
See also: The Rice Manuscript, Box 3.5-3.8) 1937-1945
- Wayland, J. H. 1938, 1943
- Whittaker, Edmond and Stopford, Sir John to Mrs. Bateman 1946
Box 1, Folder 4
Report by C. L. Pekeris with remarks by H. Bateman
1943
Box 1, Folder 5
Royal Society of London
1928
Box 1, Folder 7
Notebook: Hydromechanics
undated
Box 1, Folder 8
Notebook No. 2: The Dynamics of Moving Systems
undated
Box 1, Folder 9
Notebook No. 4: Atmospherics, Brownian Movement, Thermodynamics, Geophysics
undated
Box 1, Folder 10
Notebook No. 3: Thermodynamics
undated
Box 1, Folder 12
Bateman notes: Binomial coefficients [unfinished manuscript] I
undated
Box 1, Folder 13
Bateman notes: Binomial coefficients [unfinished manuscript] II
undated
Box 1, Folder 14
Bateman notes: Binomial coefficients [unfinished manuscript] III
undated
Box 1, Folder 15
Bateman notes: Binomial coefficients [unfinished manuscript] IV
undated
Box 1, Folder 16
Bateman notes: Binomial coefficients [unfinished manuscript] V
undated
Box 2, Folder 1
Bateman notes: Functional equations (1)
undated
Box 2, Folder 2
Bateman notes: Functional equations (2)
undated
Box 2, Folder 3
Bateman notes: Generalized stream function and related topics (including some problems in symmetric potentials)
undated
Box 2, Folder 4
Bateman notes: A guide to the functions
undated
Box 2, Folder 5
Bateman notes: Integrals I
undated
Box 2, Folder 6
Bateman notes: Integrals II
undated
Box 2, Folder 7
Bateman notes: Integrals III
undated
Box 2, Folder 8
Bateman notes: Integrals IV
undated
Box 2, Folder 9
Bateman notes: Integrals (General)
undated
Box 2, Folder 10
Bateman notes: Integrals (General and Notes)
undated
Box 3, Folder 1
Bateman notes: Integrals (Lists)
undated
Box 3, Folder 2
Bateman notes: Miscellaneous potential functions
undated
Box 3, Folder 3
Bateman notes: Numbered C, f, F, g, S, w, z-pages
undated
Box 3, Folder 4
Bateman notes: Recurrence relations and generalized notes
undated
Box 3, Folder 5
Bateman notes: The Rice Manuscript I
undated
Box 3, Folder 6
Bateman notes: The Rice Manuscript II
undated
Box 3, Folder 7
Bateman notes: The Rice Manuscript III
undated
Box 3, Folder 8
Bateman notes: The Rice Manuscript IV
undated
Box 3, Folder 9
Bateman notes: Symmetric potentials. Material for monograph
undated
Box 3, Folder 10
Bateman notes: Symmetric potentials without numbering
undated
Box 4, Folder 1
Lantern slides: assorted equipment, unidentified engineering (1)
undated
Box 4, Folder 2
Lantern slides: assorted equipment, unidentified engineering (2)
undated
Box 4, Folder 3
Lantern slides: assorted equipment, unidentified engineering (3)
undated
Box 4, Folder 4
Lantern slides: assorted equipment, unidentified engineering (4)
undated
Box 4, Folder 5
Lantern slides: assorted equipment, unidentified engineering (5)
undated
Box 4, Folder 6
Lantern slides: assorted equipment, unidentified engineering (6)
undated
Box 4, Folder 7
Lantern slides: assorted equipment, unidentified engineering (7)
undated
Box 4, Folder 8
Lantern slides: assorted equipment, unidentified engineering (8)
undated
Box 5, Folder 1
Book: De Donder, T.
La Gravifique Einsteinienne, inscribed copy
1921
Box 6, Folder 1
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 201:
Modern Analysis III
1938-39
Note
Notebooks I and II are missing
Box 6, Folder 2
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 201:
Modern Analysis IV
1938-1939
Box 6, Folder 3
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 201:
Modern Analysis V
1938-1939
Box 6, Folder 4
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 201:
Modern Analysis VI
1938-1939
Box 6, Folder 5
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 255:
Methods of Mathematical Physics I
1939-1940
Box 6, Folder 6
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 255:
Methods of Mathematical Physics II
1939-1940
Box 6, Folder 7
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 255:
Methods of Mathematical Physics III
1939-1940
Box 6, Folder 8
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 255:
Methods of Mathematical Physics IV
1939-1940
Box 6, Folder 9
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 255:
Methods of Mathematical Physics V
1939-1940
Box 6, Folder 10
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 255:
Methods of Mathematical Physics VI
1939-1940
Box 6, Folder 11
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 258:
Partial Differential Equations of Mathematical Physics I
1940-1941
Box 6, Folder 12
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 258:
Partial Differential Equations of Mathematical Physics II
1940-1941
Box 6, Folder 13
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 258:
Partial Differential Equations of Mathematical Physics III
1940-1941
Box 6, Folder 14
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 258:
Partial Differential Equations of Mathematical Physics IV
1940-1941
Box 6, Folder 15
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 258:
Partial Differential Equations of Mathematical Physics V
1940-1941
Box 6, Folder 16
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ma 258:
Partial Differential Equations of Mathematical Physics VI
1940-1941
Box 7, Folder 1
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ae 268:
Compressible Fluids I
1942
Box 7, Folder 2
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ae 268:
Compressible Fluids II
1942
Box 7, Folder 3
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ae 268:
Compressible Fluids Problems
1942
Box 7, Folder 4
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ph 221:
Potential Theory
Spring 1942
Box 7, Folder 5
Edmund Pinney's Bateman Lecture Notes: Ph 221:
Potential Theory
undated circa 1942
Box 7, Folder 6
Edmund Pinney's Review of Bateman Courses for Final Doctorate Examination
1942
Box 8, Folder 4
Reprints
1940-1947, undated
