Lillian Rosanoff Lieber

Lillian R. Lieber (1886 – 1986)

Lillian R. Lieber (July 26, 1886 - July 11, 1986) was a mathematician and popular author.[1] She often teamed up with her illustrator husband, Hugh Gray Lieber, to produce works.

Life and career

Early life

Lieber was one of four children of Clara and Abraham Rosenberg. Her brothers were Denver publisher Joseph Rosenberg, psychiatrist Aaron Rosanoff, and chemist Martin André Rosanoff. Aaron and Martin changed their names to sound more Russian, less Jewish.[2]

Career

Lieber was head of the math department at Long Island University and the Galois Institute of Mathematics and Art in Brooklyn, New York until her retirement in 1950.[1] Her highly accessible writings were praised by no less than Albert Einstein, C. J. Keyser, E. T. Bell, and S. I. Hayakawa. Concerning her book, The Education of T. C. MITS, Dorothy Canfield Fisher said:

"This is quite different from any other book you ever bought... full of mathematics and full of humor... also full of a deep, healing philosophy of life, reassuring, strengthening, [and] humane..."[3]

Personal obscurity

Few details of Lillian Lieber's life and career have survived, even at Long Island University. She died in Queens, New York shortly before her 100th birthday. She came from a well educated Jewish family. Details can be found in the out of print book "Yesterday" that was written by her cousin Miriam Shomer Zunser in the 1930s.[1]

Unusual Typography

In addition to enlivening her books with illustrations by her husband, Hugh Gray Lieber (who was head of the Department of Fine Arts at Long Island University), Lillian often chose an unusual scheme of typography which is self-explained in this example from her Preface to The Education of T. C. MITS:

This is not intended to be
free verse.
Writing each phrase on a separate line
facilitates rapid reading,
and everyone
is in a hurry
nowadays.

T.C. MITS was an acronym for "The Celebrated Man In The Street," a character who, like George Gamow's Mr. Tompkins, served as a device for bringing concepts in higher mathematics and physics to the general public. The MITS character was central to Lieber's populist approach to education, and she often laced her expositions with passages extolling the virtues of the democratic system.

"The Lillian Lieber Standard"

In her book, The Einstein Theory of Relativity, Lillian Lieber stated her views on the inclusion of mathematics in books intended for "the celebrated man [or woman] in the streets:"

"...just enough mathematics to HELP and NOT to HINDER the lay reader... Many 'popular' discussions of Relativity without any math at all have been written, but we doubt whether even the best of these can possibly give to a novice an adequate idea of what it is all about.... On the other hand, there are many [books on relativity] that are accessible to experts only."

The Cavendish Press in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has adopted Lillian's rule of thumb with some elaboration.[4]

Works

Although her works were broadly influential (including a special paperback edition of The Education of T. C. MITS that was circulated to American servicemen during World War II), they remained out of print for decades. Starting in 2007, publisher Paul Dry has reissued The Education of T.C. MITS, Infinity, and The Einstein Theory of Relativity.[2]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Robert Jantzen's webpage on Lieber"
  2. 1 2 "Paul Dry, Publisher of her reissued books"
  3. ↑ Bookjacket of the 1944 W. W. Norton Edition of The Education of T. C. MITS
  4. ↑ Cavendish Press Web Site, elaboration of the Lillian Lieber Standard

External links


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