James A. Donaldson—Black Mathematician, Advocate, Gentleman (1941–2019)

James L. Flanagan: A Scholar and a True Gentleman [Reflections]

James L. Flanagan J ames (Jim) L. Flanagan was born 26 August 1925 and grew up on a cotton farm in Greenwood, Mississippi. He graduated from high school in 1943 and completed his freshman year at Mississippi State University before joining the U.S. Army at age 18. He returned home about three years later, picked up his studies with the help of the G.I. Bill, and graduated with a B.S. degree in ...

Honoring Our Colleague James F. Crow, an Outstanding Gentleman, Citizen, and Scientist

WITH this issue we begin a series of Perspectives and Review articles honoring our colleague James F. Crow, who, along with this journal, celebrated his 95th birthday this year. Why honor Jim? The answer is obvious to the many who have the privilege to know him: a gentleman and scholar of the highest order, he represents the best of our field. Jim Crow is a living link between our generations a...

Eileen Gentleman

A Mathematician Reads

New York University mathematical physicist Alan Sokal published in the postmodern humanities journal Social Text a parody entitled “Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity” [1]. His point in doing so was to test whether the field of “cultural studies of science” was seriously lacking in “intellectual standards”. His article is nonsense from start to...

The mathematician as a formalist