HENRY SEELY WHITE
1861 - 1943
When he was appointed to Vassar, in 1905, after
President Taylor had searched the country for a
mathematician of high distinction, Henry Seely
White was recognized as a leader in his field,
internationally known for his research in the new
geometry.
He had graduated from Wesleyan University with
honors, studied in Germany and Italy, and taken his
doctorate at Gottingen under the inspiration of
such mathematicians as Klein and Schwarz. It was
after teaching at Wesleyan, Clark and Northwestern
Universities that he accepted the call to Vassar.
To our advantage he repeatedly declined calls to
other universities, feeling that the great happiness,
both for him and for Mrs. White, was to be found at
Vassar. In his thirty-one years here he was one
of the outstanding figures in the life of the col-
lege and the community.
From the class of 1906 down to the graduates of the
present year Vassar students and his colleagues have
felt the charm of his personality and the quality
of his great intellect. He had a courtly dignity
combined with a dry, penetrating wit. A conflict
of logic with common sense in faculty discussion
brought forth his choicest humor, always out of a
tolerant, sane point of view. His insight into
fields others than his own grew out of an easy
familiarity with the currents in education, con-
temporary and past. In some subtle way he developed
in his students a power which neither they nor others
knew they possessed. Sad as we are at the loss of
Professor White we feel that what he gave to the
college will always be a part of Vassar's contribution.
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