North Carolina
NCSU people
This collection is open for research; access requires at least 24 hours advance notice.
[Identification of Item], Jack Levine Papers, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.
North Carolina State University does not own copyright to this collection. Individuals obtaining materials from the NCSU Libraries' Special Collections Research Center are responsible for using the works in conformance with United States copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.
Jack Levine was born on December 15, 1907 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received his A.B. degree with honors in Mathematics and Physics from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1929, and then spent a year there as an Assistant Professor in Mathematics. He attended Princeton University in 1930, and received his Ph.D. in mathematics in 1934, during which time he was also a part-time instructor. From 1935-1936 he was an instructor in mathematics at North Carolina State College. From 1936-1939 he served as Assistant Professor, and from 1939-1946 as Associate Professor. In 1946 he was appointed a full Professor and served in that capacity until 1976. He continued to teach part time until 1995.
Levine served as Technical Sergeant in the Second Signal Service Battalion of the Signal Corps from 1943-1945. In 1946 he was awarded the Legion of Merit Award for his outstanding service with the Army Security Agency. In 1970 Dr. Levine received an Outstanding Teacher Award at North Carolina State University. He was a member of several honorary and professional organizations, including Pi Mu Epsilon, Sigma Xi, American Mathematical Society, Mathematical Association of America, American Society for Engineering Education, and Phi Kappa Phi.
Still active in research after his retirement, his areas of interest included tensor analysis, geometrics of generalized spaces, differential geometry, combinatorial analysis, theory of symmetric functions, algebraic cryptography and mathematical physics. In addition to over one hundred research papers, Levine also published several books, including a definitive four-volume work on pattern word lists used in cryptography and a comprehensive compilation of U.S. cryptographic patents, 1861-1981.
Levine was also an avid reader, especially of mystery books. He was a life member of the Friends of the Library at NCSU. In 1987 he donated a collection of over 1,500 mystery books to D. H. Hill library at North Carolina State University. In 1992 he donated an additional 665 titles to the collection.
This collection contains materials related to Levine's research interests, as well as those documenting his publications and university career. Correspondence includes letters about general cryptography, articles written by Levine and others, Levine's cryptographic patents book, and cryptographic computer tests. Research contains notes, computer printouts, article reprints, and note cards related to Levine's research interests in cryptography. Writings includes Levine's published and unpublished essays and pamphlets. Teaching Career includes class notes and other student-related material. Collected Works includes articles, books, and bibliographic information of other authors in the fields of mathematics and cryptography. Most of the materials are from Levine's lifetime, but some of the items in the Collected Works series are from as early as 1716.
The collection is organized into five series: Correspondence, Research, Writings, Teaching Career, and Collected Works. Original order has been preserved as much as possible.
This series includes correspondence about general cryptography, articles written by Levine and others, Levine's cryptographic patents book, and cryptographic computer tests. Major correspondents include Joel Brawley, Michael Willet, Louis Kruh, and
This series is broken down into four subseries: Notes, Computer Printouts, Notecards, and Reprints.
The Notes subseries contains handwritten materials relating to patents, the Hill System of cryptography, and general cryptography. Only a few folders' contents could be clearly identified; the majority of materials did not have dates or titles. Folders are arranged alphabetically, with general topics at the end.
The Computer Printouts subseries also consists of materials relating to general cryptography, the Hill System, and patents. Materials on general cryptographic problems and systems are arranged alphabetically. These materials include oversize items and IBM computer punch cards. The Hill System folders are arranged first by Modulus (Mod) number and then chronologically. At the end of this subseries are materials pertaining to United States patents. These folders are divided into those organized by the name of the patent holder and those organized by classification mode; both types are arranged chronologically.
The notecards in the Notecards subseries list patent names, numbers, and the patent holder. These materials are arranged in original order.
The Reprints subseries consists of photocopies of patent descriptions from the United State patent office. They are arranged in original order.
This series contains published articles and typewritten or handwritten manuscripts. They are grouped by publisher or title and are arranged chronologically. Articles without dates are at the end of the series and are organized alphabetically.
This series is organized alphabetically by topic, such as class notes, programs, reports. When available, the class number is indicated.
The following course descriptions are taken from North Carolina State College catalogs. Some courses have more than one course number, in which case all course numbers are listed (i.e. MA202/242). Each description is followed by a year in parentheses, indicating from which catalog the course description was taken.
MA202/242, Calculus II (prerequisite: MA201): Methods of integration; definite integral with applications to length of arc, surface area, volumes, centroids and moments of inertia; Simpson's rule; indeterminant forms, infinite series, expansion of functions, hyperbolic functions, partial differentiation; multiple integration. (1959 - 1960 catalog)
MA405, Introduction to Determinants and Matrices (prerequisite: MA202): Properties of determinants; differentiation; products; theorems of Laplace and Jacobi; systems of linear equations. Elementary operations with matrices; inverse rank, characteristic roots and eigenvectors. Introduction to algebraic forms. (1959 - 1960 catalog)
MA522, Theory of Probability (prerequisite: MA 401): Definitions, discrete and continuous sample spaces, combinatorial analysis, Stirling's formula, simple occupancy and ordering problems, conditional probability, repeated trials, compound experiments, Bayes' theorem, binomial, Poisson and normal distributions, the probability integral, random variables, expectation. (1959 - 1960 catalog)
This series is divided into three subseries. Reprints are organized chronologically, then alphabetically by author and subject. Reprints without dates are at the end of the series and are organized alphabetically by author and subject. Bibliographies are organized chronologically. Notecards are organized alphabetically by author.