View source for Biography:William J. LeVeque

{{Short description|Mathematician}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = William J. LeVeque
|image =  
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|birth_date        = {{birth date|1923|8|9|mf=y}}
|birth_place       = Boulder, Colorado
|death_date        = {{death date and age|2007|12|1|1923|8|23}}
|death_place       =
|residence         =
|citizenship       =
|nationality       =
|ethnicity         =
|fields            = [[Mathematics]]
|workplaces        = [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]]<br />[[Organization:University of Michigan|University of Michigan]]<br />Claremont Graduate School<br />American Mathematical Society
|alma_mater        = [[Organization:Cornell University|Cornell University]]
|doctoral_advisor  = [[Biography:Burton Wadsworth Jones|Burton W. Jones]],<br>[[Biography:Mark Kac|Mark Kac]]
|academic_advisors =
|doctoral_students = Underwood Dudley
|notable_students  =
|known_for         = [[Number theory]]
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|influences        =
|influenced        =
|awards            = SLA PMA Division Award
|religion          =
|signature         =  <!--(filename only)-->
|footnotes         =
}}

'''William Judson LeVeque''' (August 9, 1923 – December 1, 2007) was an American [[Biography:Mathematician|mathematician]] and administrator who worked primarily in [[Number theory|number theory]]. He was [[Social:Executive director|executive director]] of the American Mathematical Society during the 1970s and 1980s when that organization was growing rapidly and greatly increasing its use of computers in [[Academic publishing|academic publishing]].

==Life and education==
LeVeque was born August 9, 1923, in Boulder, Colorado. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado in 1944, and a master's degree in 1945 and a [[Ph.D.]] in 1947 from [[Organization:Cornell University|Cornell University]].<ref name="NAMS retirement">
{{cite journal |date=July–August 1988 |title=William J. LeVeque Retires as Executive Director |journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society |volume=35 |issue=6 |pages=783–784 | url=http://www.ams.org/ams/lev1.pdf |access-date=2009-01-01 }}</ref>

He was an instructor at [[Organization:Harvard University|Harvard University]] from 1947 to 1949, then started at [[Organization:University of Michigan|University of Michigan]] as an instructor and rose to professor. In 1970 he moved to the Claremont Graduate School. In 1977 he became [[Social:Executive director|executive director]] of the American Mathematical Society and remained there until his retirement in 1988.<ref name="NAMS retirement" />

After retirement LeVeque and his wife, Ann, took up sailing and lived on their [[Engineering:Sailboat|sailboat]] for three years while they traveled from Narragansett Bay to Grenada. They then moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington, where he kept active in volunteer activities for the rest of his life.<ref>
{{Cite web |url=http://cookfamilyfuneralhome.com/obits/obituaries.asp?Id=391 |title=Current Obituaries: William J. LeVeque |access-date=2 January 2009 |publisher=Cook Family Funeral Home }}
</ref>
He died December 1, 2007.<ref name="NAMS obit">
{{cite journal |last=Maxwell |first=James W. |date=November 2008 |title=William J. LeVeque (1923–2007) |journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society |volume=55 |issue=10 |pages=1261–1262 |url=http://www.ams.org/notices/200810/tx081001261p.pdf  |access-date=2009-01-01 }}
</ref> His son [[Biography:Randall J. LeVeque|Randall J. LeVeque]] is a well known applied mathematician.

==Work==
LeVeque's research interest was [[Number theory|number theory]], specifically [[Transcendental number|transcendental number]]s, uniform distribution, and [[Diophantine approximation]].<ref name="NAMS obit" />

He wrote a number of number theory textbooks and reference books, which influenced the development of number theory in the United States. A long-term project was to update [[Biography:Leonard Eugene Dickson|Leonard Eugene Dickson]]'s ''[[History of the Theory of Numbers]]''. This project eventually produced a six-volume collection titled ''Reviews in Number Theory''.<ref name="NAMS obit" /> The Special Libraries Association's Physics-Astronomy-Mathematics Division awarded LeVeque its Division Award in 1978 for his contributions to the bibliography of [[Mathematics|mathematics]].<ref>
{{Cite web |url=http://units.sla.org/division/dpam/manual/awards/divisionlist.html |title=PAM Division Award Winners List |access-date=2 January 2009 |publisher=Special Libraries Association |date=2007-12-18}}
</ref>

The American Mathematical Society grew rapidly during LeVeque's time as [[Social:Executive director|executive director]] (1977–1988). Revenues tripled from $5 million in 1977 to $14.9 million in 1988. The Society began computerizing at a rapid rate during this period, with [[Mathematical Reviews]] first becoming available electronically through existing academic dial-up services; this system later evolved into [[MathSciNet]]. Most of the headquarters staff received computer terminals for use in the new operations.<ref name="NAMS obit" />

==Selected publications==
* {{cite book | last = LeVeque | first = William J. | title = Topics in Number Theory, Volumes I and II | publisher = Dover Publications | location = New York | year = 2002 | orig-year = 1956 | isbn = 978-0-486-42539-9 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/topicsinnumberth0000leve }}
* {{cite book | last = Leveque | first = William J. | title = Elementary Theory of Numbers | publisher = Dover Publications | location = New York | year = 1990 |orig-year = 1962 | isbn = 978-0-486-66348-7 }}
* {{cite book |editor=LeVeque, William J. |title=Studies in number theory |year=1969 |publisher=Mathematical Association of America|oclc=17369}}
* {{cite book |editor=LeVeque, William J. |title=Reviews in number theory, as printed in Mathematical reviews, 1940 through 1972, volumes 1-44 inclusive |year=1974 |publisher=American Mathematical Society |oclc=948152}} (6 volumes)
* {{cite book | last = Leveque | first = William J. | title = Fundamentals of Number Theory | publisher = Dover Publications | location = New York | year = 1996 |orig-year = 1977 | isbn = 978-0-486-68906-7 }}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal | last = LeVeque | first = William J. |date=July–August 1988 |title=The AMS—Then, Now, and Soon |journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society |volume=35 |issue=6 |pages=785–789 | url=http://www.ams.org/ams/lev2.pdf |access-date=2009-01-01 }} A retrospective by LeVeque of his work at the American Mathematical Society.

==Notes==
<references />

==External links==
* {{MathGenealogy|7719}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Leveque, William J.}}
[[Category:Number theorists]]

{{Sourceattribution|William J. LeVeque}}