Clarence Abiathar Waldo


Clarence Abiathar Waldo was an American mathematician, author and educator today most famous for the role he played in the Indiana Pi Bill affair.

Life and career

Born in Hammond, New York, Waldo married Abby Wright Allen in Stamford, Connecticut in 1881. In 1884 they had a daughter, Alice.
Waldo received his A.B. and A.M. degrees from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. from Syracuse University.
A member of Sigma Xi and Phi Beta Kappa, he was tutor at the Department of Mathematics of Wesleyan University from 1877 to 1881. Subsequently, he was professor of mathematics, librarian, and twice Acting President at Rose Polytechnic Institute of Terre Haute, Indiana; professor of mathematics at DePauw University of Greencastle, Indiana from 1891 to 1895; head professor of mathematics at Purdue University of Lafayette, Indiana from 1895 to 1898; professor of mathematics, Thayer Professor of Mathematics and Applied Mechanics, head of the Department of Mathematics, and Professor Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis.
In 1888 Waldo published A manual of descriptive geometry, with numerous problems.
Waldo was a charter member of the Indiana Academy of Science and served as the Academy's president in 1897. He achieved a modicum of fame that year when he explained to members of the Indiana State Senate why a bill that would redefine the value of pi and attempt to square the circle should not be adopted.

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