Arthur Sherburne Hardy
Portrait from article "Arthur Sherburne Hardy, Poet, Soldier, Novelist, Mathematician, Editor" in The New York Times, November 19, 1893.
United States Minister to Spain
In office
March 2, 1903 – May 1, 1905
PresidentTheodore Roosevelt
Preceded byBellamy Storer
Succeeded byWilliam Miller Collier
United States Minister to Switzerland
In office
April 3, 1901 – January 29, 1903
PresidentWilliam McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded byJohn George Alexander Leishman
Succeeded byDavid Jayne Hill
United States Minister to Romania
In office
July 14, 1900 – March 13, 1901
PresidentWilliam McKinley
Preceded byWilliam Woodville Rockhill
Succeeded byCharles Spencer Francis
United States Minister to Serbia
In office
June 24, 1900 – March 2, 1901
PresidentWilliam McKinley
Preceded byWilliam Woodville Rockhill
Succeeded byCharles Spencer Francis
United States Minister to Greece
In office
October 30, 1899 – January 25, 1901
PresidentWilliam McKinley
Preceded byWilliam Woodville Rockhill
Succeeded byCharles Spencer Francis
United States Minister to Iran
In office
November 27, 1897 – April 22, 1899
PresidentWilliam McKinley
Preceded byAlexander McDonald
Succeeded byHerbert Wolcott Bowen
Personal details
Born(1847-08-13)August 13, 1847
Andover, Massachusetts
DiedMarch 14, 1930(1930-03-14) (aged 82)
Woodstock, Connecticut
NationalityAmerican
OccupationEngineer, educator, editor, diplomat, novelist, poet
Signature

Arthur Sherburne Hardy (August 13, 1847 – March 14, 1930) was an American engineer, educator, editor, diplomat, novelist, and poet.

Early life and education

Hardy was born in 1847 in Andover, Massachusetts, the son of Alpheus and Susan W. (Holmes) Hardy. He received his elementary school education abroad and thus gained an exposure to languages. He attended Phillips Academy and completed one year at Amherst College before becoming a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1865, where he excelled in languages. He graduated tenth in the class of 1869 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of artillery. His first duty was as assistant instructor of artillery tactics at West Point from July 6 to August 28 in the summer of 1869. He was then stationed in Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas in Florida. In this period after the Civil War, there was little chance of advancement in the Army so, after consulting with General William T. Sherman, he resigned in 1870.[1]

Career

Hardy served as a short period as an engineer locating routes for railroads. Then he became a professor of mathematics at Grinnell College where he stayed until 1873. Then he became professor of civil engineering in the Chandler Scientific School at Dartmouth College, accepting the position on the condition that he be allowed to serve abroad for a year. He went to Paris where he followed the course of the Ecole des Ponts et Chausees as an eleve externe and simultaneously attended as many of the lectures as he could at the École des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts), Sorbonne, and Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (National Conservatory of Crafts and Industries). In 1878 he obtained the chair of mathematics at Dartmouth and served until 1893.[1]

According to "The Early History of the [Dartmouth] Mathematics Department 1769–1961":

The one example of mathematical competency was furnished by Arthur Sherburne Hardy who wrote a book on quaternions, an adequate, if not inspiring text. It was something for Dartmouth to offer a course in such an abstruse field, and the course was actually given a few times when a student and an instructor could be found simultaneously. In 1893 Professor Hardy failed in his ambition to be elected President of Dartmouth College. He resigned, entered the diplomatic service, and was successively Ambassador to Turkey, Greece, Switzerland, and Spain. He was also a novelist with a national reputation, and if a modern generation fails to find in his books the values which their great-grandfathers found, the fact remains that his books were best-sellers in their day.[2]

While teaching at Dartmouth, Hardy helped redesign the College Park behind his house. On his departure, he sold his house to the incoming President William Jewett Tucker (the house later became the official presidential residence, a medical laboratory, and the home of a chapter of the Delta Gamma sorority before being demolished.)

In 1893 Hardy became the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, in which capacity he worked until 1895.[3]

Subsequent to his academic career and publishing career, Hardy was appointed as the United States ambassador to several countries:[3] he first served as United States Minister to Persia, from 1897 to 1899; he then served as United States Minister to Greece, from 1899 to 1901 (this post included serving as United States Ambassador to Romania and Serbia, as well). Later, he served as United States Ambassador to Switzerland, in 1901, and finally as United States Ambassador to Spain, from 1902 to 1905.

Hardy died on March 14, 1930, in Woodstock, Connecticut.[4] He was buried at Woodstock Hill Cemetery.

Partial bibliography

Novels

  • But Yet a Woman (1883): "By a hitherto unknown writer" was "regarded as the hit of season of 1883"[5]
  • The Wind of Destiny (1886)
  • Passe Rose (1889)
  • His Daughter First (1903)
  • Helen (1916)
  • No. 13 Rue du Bon Diable (1917)

Short stories

  • Diane and Her Friends (collection, 1914)

Children's fiction

  • Aurélie (1912)

Poetry

  • Francesca of Rimini (1878)
  • Dualty (1893)
  • Songs of Two (1900)

Nonfiction

Textbooks

  • Elements of Quaternions (1881)
  • Imaginary Quantities (1881), a translation of a French treatise by Jean-Robert Argand
  • New Methods in Topographical Surveying (1883)
  • Elements of Analytic Geometry (1889)
  • Elements of Calculus (1890)

Biography

Notes

  1. 1 2 United States Military Academy: Biography Archived September 12, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Dartmouth College: The Early History of the Mathematics Department 1769–1961
  3. 1 2 The Political Graveyard: Arthur Sherburne Hardy
  4. ↑ "A. S. Hardy, Diplomat, Dies In Woodstock: Author and Professor Was Minister to Spain and Balkans – Wrote Several Novels Noted Author and Diplomat Is Dead". Hartford Courant. Woodstock. AP. March 15, 1930. p. 4. Retrieved April 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Book Notices". The Week: A Canadian Journal of Politics, Literature, Science and Arts. 1 (12): 190. February 21, 1884. Retrieved April 26, 2013.

Sources

Further reading

  • "Arthur Sherburne Hardy: Poet, Soldier, Novelist, Mathematician, Editor. Unity of His Life — The Poetry of Mathematics — Military Servitude and Grandeur — The Futility of Method and the Necessity for Experience and Suffering in Art and Literary Work — Ideas on Various Interesting Subjects"; The New York Times, November 19, 1893; p. 23.
  • "A. S. Hardy Dies: Former Diplomat, Ex-Minister to Persia Succumbs at 82 at His Home in Woodstock, Conn. West Point Graduate He Taught Mathematics at Dartmouth in 1878-93—Was Also Noted Author"; The New York Times, March 14, 1930; p. 16.
  • "Arthur Hardy, Former Envoy, Is Dead at 82: Had Been Minister to Several Countries, Professor, Army Officer and Author Famous as a Rifle Shot Helped to Establish First Golf Course at Athens"; New York Herald Tribune, March 14, 1930; p. 23.
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