Lester R. Ford

This is about early- and mid-20th-century mathematician. For his mathematician son, active from the mid-20th century, see L. R. Ford Jr.

Lester Randolph Ford Sr. (October 25, 1886 – November 11, 1967) was an American mathematician, editor of the American Mathematical Monthly from 1942 to 1946, and president of the Mathematical Association of America from 1947 to 1948.

Ford circles are named after him.

Later Ford joined the faculty of Rice Institute in Houston, Texas. There he married Marguerite Eleanor John on 15 June 1924.

Moving north to Chicago, Ford taught at Armour Institute, soon to become Illinois Institute of Technology. From there he went to the editorship of The American Mathematical Monthly during World War II. Ford was president of the Mathematical Association of America for 1947,8.

In 1964, the MAA recognised his contribution to mathematics by establishing the Lester R. Ford Awards for authors of articles of expository excellence published in The American Mathematical Monthly or Mathematics Magazine. (The prize is now known as the Paul R. Halmos – Lester R. Ford Award. ) His doctoral students include Edwin Beckenbach.

Publications 1915: An Introduction to the Theory of Automorphic Functions via Internet Archive 1919: Elementary Mathematics for Field Artillery 1929: 1928: Introduction to Differential Equations via HathiTrust 1933: Differential Equations, second edition 1955, 1963: (with his son) Calculus, McGraw-Hill via HathiTrust