John Wentworth Clawson (1881-1964)
geometer

J. A. Clawson was probably the first to publish a description of an object in triangle geometry now known as the Clawson point.

Born in St. John's, New Brunswisk, Canada, Clawson received the A.B. degree in 1901 from the University of New Brunswick. In 1905, he received the A.M. degree from Cambridge University.

From 1907 until his retirement in 1952, Clawson was Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. During the last six of these years, he was Dean of the College.

Clawson published a book of 63 pages: Geometry of Three Dimensions (Edwards Brothers, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1938) and several journal articles:

Annals of Mathematics:
20 (1919) 232-261 The complete quadrilateral
23 (1921) 40-44 More theorems on the complete quadrilateral

American Mathematical Monthly:
24 (1917) 71- An inversion of the complete quadrilateral
26 (1919) 63- A theorem in the geometry of the triangle
32 (1925) 169- Points on the circumcircle
61 (1954) 161- A chain of circles associated with the 5-line
63 (1956) 306- A chain of circles associated with the n-line
65 (1958) 32- An n-line property

The Clawson point originates in one of Clawson's problem proposals in the American Mathematical Monthly: no. 3132, submitted in 1925, and solved in v. 33 (1926), page 285.

Photograph courtesy of Ursinus College Archives, Myrin Library

Clawson point
Clark Kimberling Home Page