Abraham Nemeth
Encyclopedia
Abraham Nemeth is an American
mathematician and inventor. He is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics
at the University of Detroit Mercy
in Detroit, Michigan
.
on the Lower East Side
of Manhattan
into a large family of Hungarian
Jewish immigrants who spoke Yiddish. He is blind
from birth
.
He attended public schools at first but did most of his primary and secondary education at the Jewish Guild for the Blind school in Yonkers, New York
. His undergraduate studies were at Brooklyn College
where he studied psychology
. He earned a Master of Arts degree in Psychology from Columbia University
.
Dr. Nemeth studied mathematics and physics at Brooklyn College
. He did not major in mathematics because his academic advisors discouraged him. However, tired of what he felt were unfulfilling jobs at agencies of the blind, and with the encouragement of his wife, he decided to continue his education in mathematics.
to accept a position at the University of Detroit. He remained there for 30 years, retiring in 1985. During the late 1960s he studied computer science
and began the university’s program in that subject.
code
that would more effectively handle the kinds of math and science material he was tackling. Ultimately, he developed the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation
in 1952. Nemeth Code has gone through 4 revisions since its initial development and continues in wide use today.
Dr. Nemeth is also responsible for the rules of MathSpeak, a system for orally communicating mathematical text. In the course of his studies, Dr. Nemeth found that he needed to make use of sighted readers to read otherwise inaccessible
math texts and other materials. Likewise, he needed a method for dictating his math work and other materials for transcription into print. The conventions Dr. Nemeth developed for efficiently reading mathematical text out loud have evolved into MathSpeak.
Dr. Nemeth was instrumental in the development of the Unified English Braille Code
though he eventually parted ways with others developing the code and is currently working on a parallel effort which he calls the Universal Braille System.
Dr. Nemeth is an active member of the National Federation of the Blind
. He has written several short stories and made speeches for the NFB about his life as a blind mathematician. On February 11, 2006, Nemeth suffered a massive heart attack
and is currently recovering. He was well enough to attend the July 2006 NFB convention and accept the 2006 Louis Braille award which the organization gave him. On July 9, 2009, he was honored by the NFB as a co-recipient of the Dr. Jacob Bolotin award.
Nemeth is a member of the United States Democratic Party but was appointed by a Republican governor of Michigan as chairman of the state commission for the blind, a position in which he served for 2 years, though he says that he does not like politics.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mathematician and inventor. He is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
at the University of Detroit Mercy
University of Detroit Mercy
University of Detroit Mercy is a private, Roman Catholic co-educational university in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with the Society of Jesus and the Sisters of Mercy. Antoine M. Garibaldi is the president. With origins dating from 1877, it is the largest Roman Catholic university...
in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
.
Early life
Dr. Nemeth was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
into a large family of Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
Jewish immigrants who spoke Yiddish. He is blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
from birth
Birth
Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring. The offspring is brought forth from the mother. The time of human birth is defined as the time at which the fetus comes out of the mother's womb into the world...
.
He attended public schools at first but did most of his primary and secondary education at the Jewish Guild for the Blind school in Yonkers, New York
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
. His undergraduate studies were at Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
where he studied psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
. He earned a Master of Arts degree in Psychology from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
Dr. Nemeth studied mathematics and physics at Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...
. He did not major in mathematics because his academic advisors discouraged him. However, tired of what he felt were unfulfilling jobs at agencies of the blind, and with the encouragement of his wife, he decided to continue his education in mathematics.
Academic career
Nemeth taught part-time at various colleges in New York. Though his employers were sometimes reluctant to hire him knowing that he was blind, his reputation grew as it became apparent that he was a capable mathematician and teacher. Nemeth distinguished himself from many other blind people by being able to write visual print letters and mathematical symbols on paper and blackboards just like sighted people, a skill he learned as a child. Nemeth says that this skill allowed him to succeed in mathematics, during an era without much technology, during which even Braille was difficult to use in mathematics. During the 1950s he moved to Detroit, MichiganDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
to accept a position at the University of Detroit. He remained there for 30 years, retiring in 1985. During the late 1960s he studied computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
and began the university’s program in that subject.
Importance to mathematics and blindness
As the coursework became more advanced, he found that he needed a brailleBraille
The Braille system is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing.Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two...
code
Code
A code is a rule for converting a piece of information into another form or representation , not necessarily of the same type....
that would more effectively handle the kinds of math and science material he was tackling. Ultimately, he developed the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics and Science Notation
Nemeth Braille
The Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics is a Braille code for encoding mathematical and scientific notation linearly using standard six-dot Braille cells for tactile reading by the visually impaired. The code was developed by Abraham Nemeth....
in 1952. Nemeth Code has gone through 4 revisions since its initial development and continues in wide use today.
Dr. Nemeth is also responsible for the rules of MathSpeak, a system for orally communicating mathematical text. In the course of his studies, Dr. Nemeth found that he needed to make use of sighted readers to read otherwise inaccessible
Accessibility
Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity...
math texts and other materials. Likewise, he needed a method for dictating his math work and other materials for transcription into print. The conventions Dr. Nemeth developed for efficiently reading mathematical text out loud have evolved into MathSpeak.
Dr. Nemeth was instrumental in the development of the Unified English Braille Code
Unified English Braille Code
Unified English Braille Code is an English language Braille code developed to permit representing the wide variety of literary and technical material in use in the English-speaking world today...
though he eventually parted ways with others developing the code and is currently working on a parallel effort which he calls the Universal Braille System.
Post-retirement
Nemeth continues to be active, continuing to work on the Nemeth code. Nemeth has been active in the Jewish community since childhood, and since his retirement from academic mathematics he has been transcribing Hebrew prayer books into Braille.Dr. Nemeth is an active member of the National Federation of the Blind
National Federation of the Blind
The National Federation of the Blind is an organization of blind people in the United States. It is the oldest and largest organization led by blind people in the United States...
. He has written several short stories and made speeches for the NFB about his life as a blind mathematician. On February 11, 2006, Nemeth suffered a massive heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
and is currently recovering. He was well enough to attend the July 2006 NFB convention and accept the 2006 Louis Braille award which the organization gave him. On July 9, 2009, he was honored by the NFB as a co-recipient of the Dr. Jacob Bolotin award.
Trivia
Nemeth’s obituary has been prematurely published twice in Jewish and blindness-related magazines, when workers at the magazines believed he had died when in fact his brother and wife had actually died.Nemeth is a member of the United States Democratic Party but was appointed by a Republican governor of Michigan as chairman of the state commission for the blind, a position in which he served for 2 years, though he says that he does not like politics.
External links
- Profile of Abraham Nemeth at the MathSpeak Initiative web site
- Profile of Abraham Nemeth at the Division on Visual Impairment of the Council for Exceptional Children
- North Carolina Conference on Visual Impairment and Blindness page with a biographical section on Dr. Nemeth
- Interview with Abraham Nemeth at nextbook.org
- Information on the origins and rules of MathSpeak
- “To Light A Candle with Mathematics”: a short story by Nemeth published in the short story collection “As The Twig Is Bent”, part of the NFB Kernel Book series.
- Nemeth’s Braille Award
- Speech by Nemeth
- Photo Blog to Dr. Nemeth's 3 day visit to The New York Institute for Special Education (October 2007)