Articles about L Wayland Dowling

We give a number of articles relating to Linnaeus Wayland Dowling (1867-1928).

1894

Daily Telegram, Tuesday 29 May 1894.

Wayland Dowling Comes Home to Find His Wife Dead.

Mr Wayland Dowling arrived here from Worcester, Massachusetts, this morning and it was indeed a sad homecoming to him. He is a senior fellow at Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, and has been there for about two years, where he has been preparing himself with a view to securing a chair in some college. He was married about a year ago to Miss Mattie Johnson, of Clayton, a highly esteemed school teacher of that place, and his wife has been with him until about a month ago, when she returned home to Clayton. The University term would close shortly and Mr Dowling expected to come home as soon as his vacation began. Monday morning about 7 o'clock he received a telegram announcing the dangerous condition of his wife and he immediately started for home. About 10 o'clock, or three hours after he received the telegram, his wife died, but he failed to receive the dispatch, being on the way home, and was not aware of the sorrow that awaited him until he arrived at the store of his cousin, E L Luther, in this city this morning, when the dread news was broken to him. It was a hard sorrowful task, and his many friends have deep sympathy for him in his great and sore bereavement. Mrs Dowling was a young woman of many fine qualities, loved by all who knew her, and hundreds of earnest friends will mourn her sudden death, on the threshold of a bright and happy life. The funeral will be held Thursday at 2 o'clock p.m. at Clayton.

1900

The 1900 Badger, University of Wisconsin.

Linnaeus Wayland Dowling.

LINNAEUS WAYLAND DOWLING, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, was born 7 December 1867, at Medina, Michigan. He received his early education in the common schools of Rome, Michigan. From 1885 to 1889, he was engaged in teaching in the schools of Southern Michigan, experiencing many of the hardships of the old-time country school-teacher. In 1889, he entered Adrian College. In 1892 Dr Dowling began his graduate work in mathematics at Clark University, and received his Ph.D. at that institution in 1895. In the fall of 1895 he entered the University of Wisconsin as instructor in mathematics, which position he held until 1898, when he was promoted to his present position of Assistant Professor of Mathematics.

Dr Dowling is a member of the American Mathematical Society and the Wisconsin Academy of Science.

1912

The Adrian Daily Telegram, Wednesday, 26 June 1912.

Former Lenawee County Resident is Prominent in Commencement of University of Wisconsin.

Last week, at the commencement of the University of Wisconsin, the class of 1912, containing over 600 members, left a fitting memorial in the form of a student loan fund to be used for needy students. The reception of the fund was by Dr L W Dowling, a member of the student loan committee. As Dr Dowling was a Lenawee boy and has many friends in this county, they will read with interest what he had to say on that occasion. Dr Dowling was formerly a student at Adrian college, and the local institution at the commencement conferred the degree of A.M. on him. At the donation of the fund at the University of Wisconsin Dr Dowling said in part:

An appropriate class memorial ought to stand for some definite idea or ideal, while at the same time it serves as a reminder that the class has fought out its campaign. If you wish to discover class ideals as represented by their memorials, look about you. You will see pictures adorning the walls of alma mater, you will see statues representing this or that hero of ancient romance, you will see monuments, tablets, scientific instruments - and so on to the end of the list. The ideas represented are various, and depend, too, in no small degree upon the ideas and education of the interpreter.

The motto on the seal of Wisconsin is 'Forward.' The ideal of this state is to look to the future - to look ahead. The ideal of its university is that of service to others. The class of 1912 is to be congratulated on having chosen a memorial which represents both these ideals. Its meaning is written deep in human experience and cannot be misinterpreted by anyone.

The ideas which cluster about the word 'memorial' are apparently so necessarily and indelibly connected with the past that it is difficult to think of them except in terms of tradition or of history. In the past great kings died and slaves laboured for years to erect memorials commemorating their deeds, and these monuments serve as one of the important gateways through which a knowledge of prehistoric times has come down to us. We journey across the ocean and stand in awe before the huge evidences of past ceremonials. The earth is dotted with these memorials. But mark this - these memorials may be awe-inspiring, they may be beautiful, but they are finished, they cannot stretch out arms to the living, to the future. They may be interesting and historically important, but they cannot furnish food nor shelter nor clothing to a single human being. They may be evidences of past service which we ought never to forget, but they cannot reach into the future with service to those who come after. They are often evidences of war and turmoil and speak to us of the death and suffering of fellow mortals. Few indeed are they which commemorate war against the common enemies of mankind - ignorance, greed, poverty, and disease. It is typical of the coming era of universal peace, when a memorial is so made that it can reach into the unknown future and offer aid to those who may be in need and at the same time commemorate the accomplishment of a great deed or the fulfilling of a great ideal.

1928

1. Wisconsin State Journal, Madison, Wisconsin, Monday 17 September 1928.

L W Dowling Succumbs at 61:
Long Illness Fatal to University Man; Came to Madison 33 Years Ago.

PROFESSOR LINNAEUS WAYLAND DOWLING. 61, of the mathematics department of the University of Wisconsin, died Sunday at his residence, 2 Roby Road, after an illness of several months which became acute two weeks ago. The funeral services will be held from the home at 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Rev. Robbins W Barstow officiating, the Frautschi funeral home being in charge. The remains are now at the home.

Professor Dowling was born 31 December 1867, at Medina, and received his early education under direction of his father and in the public schools of Rome, Lenawee County, Michigan and Adrian College, Michigan. In 1895, he received the degree of Ph.D. from Clark University and in the same year came to the University of Wisconsin as an instructor in Mathematics. He spent the year 1905-06 in Europe studying in the University of Turin. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science: American Mathematical Society: Circolo Matematico di Palermo: Sigma Xi: Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Professor Dowling was editor of the Mathematical series for the Johnson Publishing company, Richmond, and was author of several books and articles on mathematics He is survived by his widow, who was Miss Jessie S Clapp, of Worcester, and whom he married 12 September 1899: a son, Philip, of Pittsburgh. a granddaughter. Evelyn: a brother, Ray, and a sister Theodora, Adrian, Michigan.

Burial at Forest Hill.

Pallbearers for the funeral will be: L R Jones, E R Maurer, A Kahlenberg, E G Hastings, H A Smith, W J Meek, E H Farrington and L R Ingersoll. Interment will be in Forest Hill cemetery. Mr and Mrs Philip Dowling arrived here several days ago from Pittsburgh when Professor Dowling's condition became critical. Out-of-town relatives who will come for the funeral are Mrs William Hansen, Ashtabula, 0, a niece of Mrs. Dowling: Mr and Mrs James I La Crone, New Buffalo, Michigan. Mrs La Crone is a cousin of the professor.

2. The Capital Times, Madison, Wisconsin, Monday, 17 September 1928.

L W Dowling, University of Wisconsin Professor, Is Dead:
Prominent Faculty Member Passes Away Sunday.

Professor Linnaeus Wayland Dowling, 61, prominent member of the mathematics department at the University of Wisconsin, died Sunday at his home, 2 Roby Road after an illness of several weeks. He was born at Medina, 8 December 1867.

His early education was received under the direction of his father, and later in the public schools at Rome, Lenawee, Michigan. He was graduated from Adrian College, and in 1895 received the degree of doctor of philosophy from Clark University. Professor Dowling came to Madison and the university in 1895, as an instructor in the department of mathematics.

He was married in 1899. Professor Dowling spent the year 1905-06 in Europe, studying at the University of Turin. He was a member of a number of mathematical organisations and prominent in campus activities. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Mathematical Society, Circolo Matematico di Palermo, Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. He was also the author of several books and articles on mathematics, and was editor of the Mathematical Series for the Johnson Publishing Co.

Professor Dowling is survived by Jessie, his widow, one son, Philip Dowling, of Pittsburgh, one brother H Ray Dowling and a sister, Theodora, both of Adrian, and a granddaughter, Evelyn Dowling. The funeral services will be held Tuesday morning o'clock from the home at 2 Roby Road.

The Rev Robbins W Barstow, pastor of the First Congregational church, will officiate, and interment will be made in Hill cemetery. The pallbearers will be members of the faculty, Professors L R Jones, E R Maurer, L Kahlenberg, E G Hastings, H A Smith, W J Meek, E H Farrington, and L R Ingersoll.

3. Notes and News, The American Mathematical Monthly 35 (8) (1928), 448.

Linnaeus Wayland Dowling.

LINNAEUS WAYLAND DOWLING, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin, died at his home in Madison on 16 September. He had been failing in health for some months, and was obliged to relinquish his work early in the second semester of the past year.

Professor Dowling was born at Medina, Michigan, on 8 December 1867. He was a graduate of Adrian College, and in 1895 received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Clark University, his doctor's dissertation being "On the forms of plane quintic curves." In the same year he came to the University of Wisconsin as instructor in mathematics, remaining a member of the department until his last illness. In 1905-6 he spent a year at Turin studying under Segre. He was a member of the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and the Circolo Matematico di Palermo. He was the author of textbooks on analytic geometry, projective geometry, and mathematics of insurance, and edited the mathematical series for the Johnson Publishing Company.

This long service as teacher and friend has been rich in its fruitful associations. Magnetic in personality, genial of manner, peculiarly endowed with the teaching gift, he quickly won and maintained the admiration and devotion of his students. He brought to them a rare combination of discipline and vision, a mingling of carefully developed fundamentals with glimpses of the heights beyond. Many of his students who later became teachers testify to the special inspiration and help in their work received in his classroom.

The days of growing weakness were brightened by daily visits of friends and students, who found him, as always, full of sympathy for their interests. His home was a shrine, to which flocked the many who loved him. These found him with peace and serenity of spirit, surrounded by the things he put first, his family, his friends, and his books. Active in community life, lover of literature, music, and nature, his passing leaves a wide sense of personal loss.

1929

Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 35 (1) (1929), 123.

Note. The following minute was written by Florence Allen. It was adopted by the Faculty of the University of Wisconsin and published by the American Mathematical Society.

Linnaeus Wayland Dowling in Memoriam.

The following minute has been adopted by the Faculty of the University of Wisconsin, and is printed here in memory of Professor Dowling, who had been a member of this Society since 1897.

Linnaeus Wayland Dowling was born at Medina, Michigan, on 7 December 1867. He graduated from Adrian College in 1890 and obtained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Clark University in 1895. He gave his entire collegiate service of thirty-three years to the University of Wisconsin, becoming successively Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor of Mathematics. His special field was geometry, and he was the author of textbooks on Analytic Geometry, Projective Geometry, and Mathematics of Insurance.

Professor Dowling's instruction was characterised by an exceptional clarity of exposition which, with his magnetism, geniality of manner, and interest in his students, made him a universally popular and beloved teacher. He was a man of unusual breadth of interests: a talented musician, an eager and well-informed botanist, and a student of the humanities. His knowledge of the language and literature of Italy, where he studied under the geometer Segre, was exceptional; and he was an ardent reader and lover of poetry. These talents explain, in part, the bonds of sympathy that united him with so many colleagues and students. But above all his attraction was due to his personal qualities, his cheerful disposition and his kindly character. His influence in these private associations was no less great than in his admirable public service as a teacher, and he will long be remembered and missed by his friends.

Be it resolved that we as a faculty hereby express our sense of loss in the death of our colleague, Professor Dowling, and that this resolution be spread upon our minutes and a copy of it sent to Mrs Dowling and to his son Dr Philip Dowling.

Last Updated March 2025