Bookplates

The Matthews Waddell Book Fund

July 1, 1995

This fund was established by friends and family in memory of Matthews Waddell, Class of 1938, for the purchase of books in mathematics or computer science. 

Following graduation from the University of Minnesota High School, Matt Waddell came to Hamilton in 1934. He followed in his father’s (a member of the Class of 1900) and his brother’s (Bob, Class of 1934) footsteps, joining Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. Majoring in math, he returned to the University of Minnesota following his graduation from Hamilton and went on to earn an M.A. in math. According to the Hamilton Alumni Review necrology, “Later in life, he continued to give Hamilton credit for introducing him to math, leading to his future career.”

He began his professional career in the actuarial department at the Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Company. In 1942, he left that job to join the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was trained in meteorology at the University of California at Los Angeles, and served through the end of World War II in the Army Weather Service and the Army Airways Communication Service. This included postings to British Columbia, Canada and Casablanca, Morocco.

Following his discharge as an Army captain, he enrolled at Johns Hopkins University where he earned a Ph.D. in mathematics. He served for a year as an assistant professor of mathematics at Western Reserve University, before returning to Hopkins to join the staff of their Applied Physics Lab. A member of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, he spent the next 29 years working primarily in classified operations research and development for the U.S. Navy. Following retirement in 1980, he stayed busy with, among other things, a hobby he had developed at Hamilton—curling. He was a long-time member of the Potomac Curling Club, with which he stayed active into his ‘70s.