The Mathematical Intelligencer - The Chandler Davis Prize

The Chandler Davis Prize for Expository Excellence was established in 2014 to encourage and reward excellent expository writing in mathematics. It will be awarded annually for an article or column essay published in The Mathematical Intelligencer in the three previous calendar years.

2017 Prize
The Mathematical Intelligencer is pleased to award its fourth annual Chandler David Prize for Expository Excellence to Paul Nahin for "The Mysterious Mr. Graham," published as the "Mathematical Communities" column for vol. 38, no. 1. (Click here to read the article (this opens in a new tab))

In this strikingly compelling story, Nahin explains that, a few years ago, a used math paperback caught his eye and he began to wonder why he had never heard of the author. Rather casually at first, he then decided to track him down: "Who was this L. A. Graham?"! The result is a short, spellbinding narrative, a model of expository excellence, in which Nahin gradually draws the reader into a puzzling mystery that weaves recreational mathematics, an unexpected biography, and 20th century social history, all with links to the years of great jazz. "The Mysterious Mr. Graham" captures the extraordinary life of a truly singular mathematician.

Paul J. Nahin is Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering at the University of New Hampshire. He is the author of 18 books on the history of mathematics, physics, and computational science, published by Springer and the university presses of Johns Hopkins and Princeton.

2016 Prize
The Mathematical Intelligencer is pleased to award the 2016 Prizes to Volker R. Remmert, for his essay "Forms of Remigration: Emigre Jewish Mathematicians and Germany in the Immediate Postwar Period". The essay appeared in The Mathematical Intelligencer, vol. 37, no. 1. (Click here to read the article (this opens in a new tab))

And to Daniel J. Velleman, for his article "The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra: A Visual Approach". The article appeared in The Mathematical Intelligencer, vol. 37, no. 4. (Click here to read the article (this opens in a new tab))
 

2015 Prize
The Mathematical Intelligencer is pleased to award the 2015 Prize to John H. Conway and Joseph Shipman, co-authors of "Extreme Proofs I: The Irrationality of √2". The essay appeared in The Mathematical Intelligencer, vol. 35, no. 3. (Click here to read the article (this opens in a new tab))

2014 Prize
The Mathematical Intelligencer is pleased to award the first Chandler Davis Prize for Expository Excellence to Dr. June Barrow-Green for her essay, "An American Goes to Europe: Three Letters from Oswald Veblen to George Birkhoff in 1913/1914." The essay appeared in The Mathematical Intelligencer, vol. 33, no. 4. (Click here to read the article (this opens in a new tab))