George Abram Miller

George Abram Miller (31 July 1863 – 10 February 1951) was an early group theorist.

George A. Miller
Born(1863-07-31)July 31, 1863
Lynnville, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania
DiedFebruary 10, 1951(1951-02-10) (aged 87)
Urbana, Illinois
NationalityAmerican
Alma materCumberland University
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsUniversity of Illinois
Doctoral advisorFrank Nelson Cole
Doctoral studentsHenry Louis Rietz

At age 17 Miller began school-teaching to raise funds for higher education. In 1882 he entered Franklin and Marshall Academy, and progressed to Muhlenberg College in 1884. He received his B.A. in 1887 and M.A. in 1890. While a graduate student, Miller was Principal of schools in Greeley, Kansas and then professor of mathematics as Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois. He corresponded with Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee for his Ph.D. in 1892. He then joined Frank Nelson Cole at University of Michigan and began to study groups. In 1895 he went to Europe where he heard Sophus Lie lecture at Leipzig and Camille Jordan at Paris. In 1897 he went to Cornell University as an assistant professor, and in 1901 to Stanford University as associate professor. In 1906 he went to University of Illinois where he taught until retirement in 1931.[1]

Miller helped in the enumeration of finite groups of degree 8, 9, and 10. Arthur Cayley had listed 198 groups of degree 8 in 1891, and Miller found two more making the total 200 in 1893. Camille Jordan had given a list for degree 9 in 1872, re-examined by Cole, and brought up to 258 groups by Miller. In 1894 Miller produced a list of 294 intransitive groups of degree 10. In consequence, the Academy of Science of Cracow awarded a prize and "Miller came to prominence in the mathematical world abruptly."[1]

Miller was president of the Mathematical Association of America 1921–1922[2] and gave a plenary address at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1924 in Toronto.[3] Miller's Collected Works were edited by Henry Roy Brahana and published by University of Illinois Press, the first two volumes appearing in 1935 and 1939.[4] The final three volumes were published in 1946, 1955, and 1959. His doctoral students include H. L. Rietz.

Publications

References
  1. Henry Roy Brahana (1957) George Abram Miller — Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences
  2. MAA presidents: George Abram Miller
  3. Miller, G. A. "History of several fundamental mathematical concepts". In: Proceedings of the International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto, August 11–16. 1924. vol. 2. pp. 959–968.
  4. J.S. Frame (1940) Review of Collected Works of George Abram Miller in Mathematical Reviews
  5. G. B. Mathews (1917) Review: A Historical Introduction to the Mathematical Literature from Nature 98:387 (#2464)
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