The World War II Origins of Mathematics Awareness

Abstract

Since ancient times, advocates for mathematics have argued that their subject is foundational for many areas of human endeavor, though the areas and arguments have changed over the years. Much newer, however, is the idea that mathematicians should systematically try to promote the usefulness or importance of mathematics to the public. This effort, which I shall generically call “mathematics awareness,” was largely an American invention. One outward manifestation was the 1986 inauguration, by President Ronald Reagan, of the first Mathematics Awareness Week. Every year since then, mathematicians and mathematics educators in the United States have dedicated a week— or, beginning in 1999, the month of April—to raising public awareness of “the importance of this basic branch of science to our daily lives,” as Reagan put it. While today’s mathematics awareness is focused on schools and on peaceful applications of mathematics, a direct line connects it to its origins in a very different kind of activity: mathematicians promoting their expertise to leaders of the American war effort during World War II. Recent mathematics awareness has focused on encouraging The World War II Origins of Mathematics Awareness