Oswald Veblen and the Capitalization of American Mathematics: Raising Money for Research, 1923-1928

Between the world wars, all the scientific professions in the United States underwent tremendous growth. The wartime experiences of scientific leaders whetted their appetites for the continuation of some kind of concentrated, well-funded research programs. Turning not to government but instead to philanthropy, physicists and chemists worked to parlay their postwar prestige into greater support for unfettered research. Leaders of the American mathematical community also wanted to expand their base of support but found themselves facing unique obstacles. Attempts to raise money to support mathematical research had mixed results. This article discusses primarily the efforts led by Oswald Veblen in the 1920s to collect funds to support mathematics through Princeton University and the American Mathematical Society in the context of this climate of expansion for the physical sciences. The mathematical community in America has not yet received the level of careful study historians have applied to the physics community; this article also attempts to redress that imbalance.