1.02.2014

Why is there no Professor Clarence Abiathar Waldo Day?

In 1897 a physician and amateur math nerd from Solitude, Indiana, claimed he'd figured out a way to square a circle—a long-standing mathematical puzzle—copyrighted his solution, and persuaded his local representative to introduce a bill in the state legislature reserving for Indiana schools the right to use his method but charging a fee to anybody else. The bill also called for redefining the mathematical constant, pi, from its then (and current) value, 3.141592653589793…, to a more convenient 3.2, also for the benefit of Indiana schools. The bill passed.

Enter Professor Clarence Abiathar Waldo of Purdue University. Prof. Waldo, visiting the state capital, overheard legislators discussing the bill and was understandably shocked. Offered by a passing legislator an introduction to the good physician from Solutude, Waldo declared he already knew enough crazy people, and declined. Instead, he "coached" (in his word) the states' Senators to defeat the bill when it was introduced in their chamber. The Indiana Senate killed the bill by postponing, indefinitely, a vote to accept it. Technically the bill is still there, waiting to be passed by the Senate, but thanks to Professor Clarence Abiathar Waldo we are, for the moment, spared.

[Full disclosure: I, myself, was born in Indiana but, after six weeks there, moved.]

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