Irving Adler
Encyclopedia
Irving Adler is an author
, mathematician
, scientist
, and educator. He is the author of 56 books (some under the pen name Robert Irving) about mathematics, science, and education, and the co-author of 30 more, for both children and adults. His books have been published in 31 countries in 19 different languages. Since his teenage years Adler has been involved in social and political activities focused on civil rights
, civil liberties
, and peace
, including his role as a plaintiff in the McCarthy Era
case Adler vs. Board of Education that bears his name.
, in New York City, the third of five children. His parents emigrated
to the United States
from Galacia, a part of Austria
, which today is a part of Poland, with his father coming in 1905 to seek work and his mother following five years later. His father, working first as a house-painter, earned enough money to start a small business selling ice, coal, wood, seltzer, and prohibition
beer (less than 1/2 of 1% alcohol). Adler was given the Hebrew name Yitzchak, anglicized on his birth certificate as Isaac. His name was changed to Irving by a school clerk when he was enrolled in elementary school. Adler was accelerated in school five times, entering Townsend Harris High School
at age eleven and beginning City College
(CCNY) when he was fourteen. During his junior year he was awarded the Belden Gold Medal for excellence in mathematics and a Silver Medal for ranking second in the college. Adler graduated magna cum laude from CCNY in 1931, when he was 18.
Adler began his teaching career with a one-year appointment as a teacher-in-training at Stuyvesant High School
. After being licensed as a regular teacher, he taught for three years as a substitute teacher
during a period when the Board of Education, in violation of state law, refused to fill vacancies with regular teachers entitled to full benefits. He joined the Unemployed Teachers Association, which filed a law suit that resulted in 3,500 teachers, including Adler, being elevated from substitute to regular status in one day.
In the course of Adler's activities in the student peace movement
of the 1930s, he met Ruth Relis, a Barnard College
student whom he married when she graduated in 1935. Irving and Ruth Adler had two children, Stephen
and Peggy
.
Adler taught mathematics at various New York
high schools during the 1930s and 1940s. He was chair of the math department at Textile High School from 1946 until 1952. He was also an active member of the New York Teachers' Union local of the American Federation of Teachers
, and was drafted into a leadership role as a member of its executive board, chairman of the educational policy committee, and then as chairman of the salary and legislative committee.
Before the Feinberg Law was implemented, the New York Superintendent of Schools, William Jansen, began calling in teachers for questioning. Union leaders and active members were asked the same question being asked of those subpoenaed before the House Un-American Activities Committee
, "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party
." On the advice of counsel, most refused to answer on the grounds that the question was a violation of section 26a of the New York Civil Service Law that prohibited questioning civil service employees about their political affiliation. Those who refused to answer the question, Adler among them, were dismissed for "insubordination and conduct unbecoming a teacher." Adler was suspended in 1952 and dismissed in 1954.
In 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court reversed itself in a subsequent case. The teachers who had been fired in the 1950s then sued for reinstatement. Adler was reinstated and retired from the city schools in 1977, with his pension rights restored.
in 1952. In 1955 he began a long association with the John Day Company
, his first title for them being Time in Your Life. Although the majority Adler's books were published by the John Day Company, he had seven published by Alfred A. Knopf
, under the pen name "Robert Irving", and several by Golden Press and Doubleday under his own name. Adler wrote six books a year for many years, mostly on scientific subjects for the junior-high and high-school levels.
A book Adler wrote for adults in 1958, The New Mathematics, was important in the "New Math
" curriculum reform movement, and led to his frequent appearances at educational meetings throughout North America
.
In 1959, Irving and Ruth Adler together began writing "The Reason Why" series of books about scientific concepts for elementary school children. Adler also wrote The Giant Golden Book of Mathematics, followed by a series of six arithmetic workbooks for grade-school children, aptly named Mathematics - Grade 1 through Mathematics - Grade 6. His workbooks eventually sold about 28 million copies worldwide.
Irving and Ruth Adler moved from ther home in Bayside, New York, to Shaftsbury, Vermont
, at the end of 1960. In 1961, Irving Adler completed his doctorate in mathematics at Columbia University
under supervision of Ellis Kolchin
. After moving to Vermont, he became the chairman of a committee of Vermont
peace organizations that mobilized against atmospheric testing of atomic weapons
; led a contingent from southern Vermont to the 1963 March on Washington
; and was president of a group called the Vermont-in-Mississippi Corporation that supported civil rights
activities in the southern U.S.
Ruth Adler died of cancer in early 1968. Later that year, Irving Adler married Joyce Sparer, a long-time family friend who had been teaching in Guyana
. Irving and Joyce Sparer Adler
co-authored Language and Man (1970), after which she pursued her own writings. After the death of Joyce's daughter Ellen, her three children came to live with them in Shaftsbury in 1977 and Adler retired from writing full-time. In 1984, the Adlers embarked on an around-the-world lecture tour, speaking at universities in Australia
, New Zealand
, and several countries in Asia
, and Europe
.
, specifically to the arrangement of plant spiral
s according to the Fibonacci sequence. His papers in the Journal of Theoretical Biology
, serves as the basis for a revival of interest in the subject. Adler has given lectures about phyllotaxis at many universities and conferences in the United States and internationally, including the University of Kansas
, The Institute for Advanced Study
and West Point
.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, scientist
Scientist
A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...
, and educator. He is the author of 56 books (some under the pen name Robert Irving) about mathematics, science, and education, and the co-author of 30 more, for both children and adults. His books have been published in 31 countries in 19 different languages. Since his teenage years Adler has been involved in social and political activities focused on civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
, civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
, and peace
Peace
Peace is a state of harmony characterized by the lack of violent conflict. Commonly understood as the absence of hostility, peace also suggests the existence of healthy or newly healed interpersonal or international relationships, prosperity in matters of social or economic welfare, the...
, including his role as a plaintiff in the McCarthy Era
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
case Adler vs. Board of Education that bears his name.
Early life
Irving Adler was born in HarlemHarlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, in New York City, the third of five children. His parents emigrated
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from Galacia, a part of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, which today is a part of Poland, with his father coming in 1905 to seek work and his mother following five years later. His father, working first as a house-painter, earned enough money to start a small business selling ice, coal, wood, seltzer, and prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
beer (less than 1/2 of 1% alcohol). Adler was given the Hebrew name Yitzchak, anglicized on his birth certificate as Isaac. His name was changed to Irving by a school clerk when he was enrolled in elementary school. Adler was accelerated in school five times, entering Townsend Harris High School
Townsend Harris High School
Townsend Harris High School is a public magnet high school for the humanities in the borough of Queens in New York City. Students and alumni often refer to themselves as "Harrisites." Townsend Harris consistently ranks as among the top 100 High Schools in the United States. It currently operates as...
at age eleven and beginning City College
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
(CCNY) when he was fourteen. During his junior year he was awarded the Belden Gold Medal for excellence in mathematics and a Silver Medal for ranking second in the college. Adler graduated magna cum laude from CCNY in 1931, when he was 18.
Adler began his teaching career with a one-year appointment as a teacher-in-training at Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School
Stuyvesant High School , commonly referred to as Stuy , is a New York City public high school that specializes in mathematics and science. The school opened in 1904 on Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City in 1992. Stuyvesant is noted for its strong academic...
. After being licensed as a regular teacher, he taught for three years as a substitute teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
during a period when the Board of Education, in violation of state law, refused to fill vacancies with regular teachers entitled to full benefits. He joined the Unemployed Teachers Association, which filed a law suit that resulted in 3,500 teachers, including Adler, being elevated from substitute to regular status in one day.
In the course of Adler's activities in the student peace movement
Peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
of the 1930s, he met Ruth Relis, a Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
student whom he married when she graduated in 1935. Irving and Ruth Adler had two children, Stephen
Stephen L. Adler
Stephen Louis Adler is an American physicist specializing in elementary particles and field theory.-Biography:Adler was born in New York City. He received an A.B. degree at Harvard University in 1961, where he was a Putnam Fellow, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1964...
and Peggy
Peggy Adler
Peggy Adler is an American author and illustrator of children's books and investigative researcher. She is the daughter of Irving Adler and Ruth Adler and younger sister of Stephen L. Adler.-Early career:...
.
Adler taught mathematics at various New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
high schools during the 1930s and 1940s. He was chair of the math department at Textile High School from 1946 until 1952. He was also an active member of the New York Teachers' Union local of the American Federation of Teachers
American Federation of Teachers
The American Federation of Teachers is an American labor union founded in 1916 that represents teachers, paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; local, state and federal employees; higher education faculty and staff, and nurses and other healthcare professionals...
, and was drafted into a leadership role as a member of its executive board, chairman of the educational policy committee, and then as chairman of the salary and legislative committee.
Adler vs. Board of Education
After President Harry Truman issued an executive order in 1947 calling for loyalty investigations of federal employees, New York State adopted the "Feinberg Law" in 1949 providing for the dismissal of teachers who belonged to "subversive organizations." The New York Teachers' Union won a suit challenging the constitutionality of the Feinberg Law in the New York State Supreme Court, but the decision was reversed on appeal to the federal courts. The United States Supreme Court decided against the teachers in a 6-3 decision in 1952, in a case that became known as Adler vs. Board of Education because Adler was the plaintiff with the earliest name alphabetically.Before the Feinberg Law was implemented, the New York Superintendent of Schools, William Jansen, began calling in teachers for questioning. Union leaders and active members were asked the same question being asked of those subpoenaed before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
, "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
." On the advice of counsel, most refused to answer on the grounds that the question was a violation of section 26a of the New York Civil Service Law that prohibited questioning civil service employees about their political affiliation. Those who refused to answer the question, Adler among them, were dismissed for "insubordination and conduct unbecoming a teacher." Adler was suspended in 1952 and dismissed in 1954.
In 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court reversed itself in a subsequent case. The teachers who had been fired in the 1950s then sued for reinstatement. Adler was reinstated and retired from the city schools in 1977, with his pension rights restored.
Career as an author
Adler wrote his first science for children, The Secret of Light, while still working as a teacher. It was published by International PublishersInternational Publishers
International Publishers is a book publishing company based in New York City specializing in Marxist works of economics, political science, and history. The company was established in 1924 by A.A. Heller and Alexander Trachtenberg, using funds earned through a lucrative trade concession granted...
in 1952. In 1955 he began a long association with the John Day Company
John Day Company
The John Day Company was a New York publishing firm that specialized in illustrated fiction and current affairs books and pamphlets from 1926-1968. It published books by, among others, Pearl Buck, Irving Adler, Peggy Adler and Sidney Hook. It was founded by Richard Walsh in 1926 and named after...
, his first title for them being Time in Your Life. Although the majority Adler's books were published by the John Day Company, he had seven published by Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
, under the pen name "Robert Irving", and several by Golden Press and Doubleday under his own name. Adler wrote six books a year for many years, mostly on scientific subjects for the junior-high and high-school levels.
A book Adler wrote for adults in 1958, The New Mathematics, was important in the "New Math
New math
New Mathematics or New Math was a brief, dramatic change in the way mathematics was taught in American grade schools, and to a lesser extent in European countries, during the 1960s. The name is commonly given to a set of teaching practices introduced in the U.S...
" curriculum reform movement, and led to his frequent appearances at educational meetings throughout North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
In 1959, Irving and Ruth Adler together began writing "The Reason Why" series of books about scientific concepts for elementary school children. Adler also wrote The Giant Golden Book of Mathematics, followed by a series of six arithmetic workbooks for grade-school children, aptly named Mathematics - Grade 1 through Mathematics - Grade 6. His workbooks eventually sold about 28 million copies worldwide.
Irving and Ruth Adler moved from ther home in Bayside, New York, to Shaftsbury, Vermont
Shaftsbury, Vermont
Shaftsbury is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. The population was 3,767 at the 2000 census. The town was chartered on August 20, 1761...
, at the end of 1960. In 1961, Irving Adler completed his doctorate in mathematics at 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...
under supervision of Ellis Kolchin
Ellis Kolchin
Ellis Robert Kolchin was an American mathematician at Columbia University. Kolchin earned a doctorate in mathematics from Columbia University in 1941 under supervision of Joseph Ritt...
. After moving to Vermont, he became the chairman of a committee of Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
peace organizations that mobilized against atmospheric testing of atomic weapons
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
; led a contingent from southern Vermont to the 1963 March on Washington
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was the largest political rally for human rights in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. It took place in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr...
; and was president of a group called the Vermont-in-Mississippi Corporation that supported civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
activities in the southern U.S.
Ruth Adler died of cancer in early 1968. Later that year, Irving Adler married Joyce Sparer, a long-time family friend who had been teaching in Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
. Irving and Joyce Sparer Adler
Joyce Sparer Adler
Joyce Sparer Adler was an American critic, playwright, and teacher. She was a founding member of the faculty of the University of Guyana, writer of important critical analyses of Wilson Harris and Herman Melville, and 1988 president of the Melville Society.-Biography:Joyce Sparer Adler was born in...
co-authored Language and Man (1970), after which she pursued her own writings. After the death of Joyce's daughter Ellen, her three children came to live with them in Shaftsbury in 1977 and Adler retired from writing full-time. In 1984, the Adlers embarked on an around-the-world lecture tour, speaking at universities in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and several countries in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Fibonacci numbers and Phyllotaxis
In the late 1970s Adler turned his attention to the question of phyllotaxisPhyllotaxis
In botany, phyllotaxis or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem .- Pattern structure :...
, specifically to the arrangement of plant spiral
Spiral
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a central point, getting progressively farther away as it revolves around the point.-Spiral or helix:...
s according to the Fibonacci sequence. His papers in the Journal of Theoretical Biology
Journal of Theoretical Biology
The Journal of Theoretical Biology is a scientific journal about theoretical biology; dealing with theoretical issues, as well as mathematical and computational aspects of biology. Some research areas covered by the papers published in the journal are population genetics, morphogenesis,...
, serves as the basis for a revival of interest in the subject. Adler has given lectures about phyllotaxis at many universities and conferences in the United States and internationally, including the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
, The Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
and West Point
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
.
Honors and awards
- Belden Gold Medal for Excellence in Mathematics (1927)
- National Science Foundation fellowship (1959)
- New York State Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development award for Outstanding Contributions to Children's Literature (1961) (with Ruth Adler)
- National Science Teachers AssociationNational Science Teachers AssociationThe National Science Teachers Association , founded in 1944 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is an association of science teachers in the United States and is the largest organization of science teachers worldwide...
/ Children's Book Council citations for Outstanding Science Books for Children (1972, 1975, 1980, and 1990) - American Association for the Advancement of ScienceAmerican Association for the Advancement of ScienceThe American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
fellow (1982) - Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences fellow (1985)
- Saint Michael's CollegeSaint Michael's CollegeSaint Michael's College is a private, residential liberal arts Catholic college. The campus is located in Colchester, Vermont. It was founded in 1904 by the Society of Saint Edmund, a French order of Catholic priests.-History:...
honorary Doctorate of Science (1990) - Townsend Harris Hall of Fame, (1996)
- Townsend Harris Medal
- City College of New York honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters (2002)
- Vermont ACLU lifetime achievement award for “nearly a century’s dedication to making the world a more just and humane place through an unswerving belief in individual rights and equal treatment under the law.” (2009)
Professional Listings & Archives
- Something About the Author: Autobiograpgy Series, Volume 15, Thomson Gale, 2006,pages 1–23.
- Children's Literature Research Collection, University of Minnesota
- The Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Tamiment Library Guide to the Irving Adler Papers @ the Tamiment Collection
Public Access Television
- Irving Adler discussing health care reform (September 8, 2009) (embedded at Blip TV)