Selected Expositions of Great Mathematicians-Arnold Ross

Selected Expositions of Great Mathematicians-Arnold Ross
Arnold E.Ross born in Chicago (1906, a year after the Annus Mirabilis), only child of Jewish emigrants from the Ukraine, was an extraordinary human being and a researcher in Mathematics. In a feature article that appeared in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society (Vol-48, #7) August 2001, he was described to be a mathematician always a step ahead organising a program to improve a teacher's mathematical knowledge. In all his endeavours his aim was to kindle a passion for intellectual challenges.
When once asked about the early influences in his life he refersed to his mother and said that she made him feel the mystery of language as a tool for communication. His father wanted him to be an engineer, but he wanted to become a mathematician. At the tender age of 17 he was confronted with a difficult situation. “ If you study engineering I will help you, if you want to be a mathematician you can starve on your own”said his father....
Thus at that tender age he went on to earn his tuition fees by working in a book binding shop and thus landed into the Mathematics department at University of Chicago. Luckily for him Prof.E.H.Moore took special care and attention to hone his skills in basic concepts and thus the young boy later turned into a great number theorist. Among the achievements of Ross, one of his students became the first black woman to receive an M.S in Mathematics. Arnold Ross is most famously remembered for the Ross Summer Mathematics Program funded by the Ohio state University and the National Science foundation of the US. This was a program aimed at deepening the mathematical understanding of high school and junior college teachers.
This program of Ross was so influential that there was a spill over effect leading to several similar programmes aimed at fostering Mathematical talent in the nation. Several Mathematicians of a very high calibre were inspired by his energy and enthusiasm to make mathematical exposition more penetrating.