Papers of Marston Morse

Harold Marston Morse (1892-1977), mathematician, taught at Harvard University from 1919 to 1920 and from 1926 to 1935. He received his AB from Colby College in 1914, then went to Harvard to earn his Master’s degree in 1915 and his PhD in 1917. Morse served as a Benjamin Peirce Instructor at Harvard from 1919 to 1920 before becoming an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Cornell University, where he remained until 1925. Morse taught at Brown University from 1925 to 1926 before returning to Harvard; he was Professor of Mathematics from 1929 to 1935, and chairman of the Department of Mathematics from 1933 to 1935. In 1935, he joined the newly founded Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, where he became a close associate of Albert Einstein. He remained at Princeton until his retirement in 1962.

Morse's academic career was interrupted by the two world wars. During World War I, he served in France with the American Ambulance Corps, and received the Croix de Guerre with silver star from the French government for bravery under fire. During World War II, he made major contributions in applied mathematics for the United States Office of the Chief of Ordnance. For this work, he received the Ordnance Department's Meritorious Service Award from President Roosevelt in 1944, and the Army-Navy Certificate of Merit in 1948.

He was the originator of the Morse theory, which has been widely applied in physics and mathematics. Morse received many honorary doctoral degrees from universities around the world, and was involved in several professional organizations; he was a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also a member of the Harvard University Visiting Committee for twenty years. Morse died in 1977.