Broader Historical Issues

The preceding four chapters have given an account of the technical aspects of the differential variation work of Forest Ray Moulton, Gilbert Ames Bliss, and their followers during and after the World War. Aspects of its reception in the military and mathematical communities have also been considered. It remains to pull back from the particular case of these concepts and their reception and ask if one can distill any lessons which can be examined in the larger context of the history of mathematics in America during these years. In this chapter, such a focus is attempted.