Death of Former AUB Professor of Mathematics Edward S. Kennedy

Professor E. S. Kennedy

Edward S. Kennedy, former AUB professor of mathematics, passed away on May 4 at the age of 97 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Born in Mexico on January 3, 1912, Kennedy moved to his mother’s home town of Easton, Pennsylvania upon the outbreak of civil strife in Mexico.

Kennedy graduated with a BS in electrical engineering from Lafayette College in Easton in 1932 and then taught for four years at Alborz College, a secondary school for boys run by the American Presbyterian Mission outside Tehran, Iran.

When he returned to the United States, he entered Lehigh University to pursue a PhD in mathematics, which he completed in 1939. He then joined the University of Alabama as an assistant professor, where, his time in Iran having stimulated an interest in Islamic culture and history, he began to publish research on medieval Islamic astrolabes.

In 1946 Kennedy accepted a professorship at the American University of Beirut, where he taught in the Department of Mathematics and retired in 1976. In 1951 he married Mary Helen Scanlon, a teacher at the Beirut College for Women, now the Lebanese American University.

Kennedy’s research interests focused on exact sciences in the medieval Islamic world through his translation and analysis of rare scientific Arabic manuscripts. He collaborated with professors and departments at Harvard University and in the History of Mathematics Department at Brown University. After his retirement from teaching, he continued to conduct research at the American Research Center in Egypt (1976-78) and the Institute for the History of Arab Science in Aleppo (1978-80).

Kennedy’s illustrious career as a math historian led in 2001 to his appointment by Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan as a member of the Order of al Istiqlal for his contribution to the study of Islamic culture.

Kennedy is survived by his wife, three children, and six grandchildren.

Condolences can be sent to Mary Helen Kennedy. Email: kennmhk@yahoo.com. Phone +1 215 340 7199.