Edwin Brown Allen (1898-1974) was a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) for 50 years. He was born in Westerly, Rhode Island and received his early education there. In 1920, he graduated from RPI with a degree in Electrical Engineering and received his Master of Science from RPI in 1930. He earned his Master of Arts from Harvard in 1934 and a Ph. D from RPI in 1934. He also studied at Columbia University. Allen studied Arabic at the University of Chicago in 1941 and Sanskrit at Yale University soon after that. He also held the RPI exhibit at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933.

His initial appointment to the rank of Instructor at RPI was made in 1920 with promotion to an assistant professorship in 1926. In the mathematics department, he was made Professor and Department Head in 1934 and Dean of the Graduate School in 1960 until 1964. As Dean, Allen was awarded a grant from NASA to support 10 traineeships to RPI students. In 1964, he became Professor Emeritus and Dean Emeritus. He continued to teach at RPI and other institutions until his death in 1974. From 1952, he was the director of the General Electric Mathematics Fellowship program, and from 1956 he was director of the National Science Foundation Summer Master’s degree program at RPI. He served on committees of the New York State Department of Education, was a trustee of the American Research Center in Egypt, and was a reviewer for the Mathematical Society. Other professional positions Allen held was a coordinator at the Naval Flight Preparatory School from 1942-1943 and an ordinance researcher at the Watervliet Arsenal from 1943-1945.

Allen carried out scholarship in the history of mathematics, specializing in the work of ancient mathematicians and astronomers. A polyglot, he held a vast use of languages which included French, German, Italian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, Babylonian Cuneiform, and Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

Allen was listed in the Who’s Who in American and was a member of the American Mathematical Society, the American Astronomical Society, the Society for the Symbolic Logic, Mathematical Association of America (Board of Governors from 1949 to 1952), American-Oriental Society, the History of Science Society, and the American Research Center in Egypt.

A veteran of World War I, he served as a member of the heavy artillery officers training school in Fort Monroe, VA. During World War II, he took an active part in research work at the Watervliet Arsenal and was coordinator of the Naval Flight Preparatory School at RPI. He was also a member of the Sigma Xi, Alpha Tau Omega, and Pau Beta Pi societies.

Some publications include “Vital Mathematics” with D. Maly and SH Starkey Jr.” (1944), “A Course in Mathematical Analysis,” 3 vols, (1945), “A Coptic Solar Eclipse Record” (1947), “Available Coptic Texts Involving Dates” (1950), “Notes on Line and Surface Integrals” (1952), “The General Electric Mathematics Fellowship Program” (1953), “Mathematics for Freshmen at Engineering Schools” (1956), “Applied Mathematics in Ancient Egypt” (1957), “The Role of a Computer Laboratory in Science and Engineering Education” (1956), three classified papers for the Watervliet Arsenal, and several studies with Dr. DB Ames for the Watervliet Arsenal.