Elbert f cox african-american museum

American mathematician (1895–1969)

Elbert Frank Cox (5 December 1895 – 28 November 1969) was an American mathematician. He was the first African American to receive a PhD in mathematics, which he earned at Cornell University in 1925.

Early life

Cox was born in Evansville, Indiana to Johnson D. Cox, a Kentucky-born teacher active in the church, and Eugenia Talbot Cox. He grew up with his parents, maternal grandmother and his brother in a racially mixed neighborhood; in 1900, in his block, there were three Black and five white families.

Cox went to a segregated college with inadequate resources. Cox was offered a scholarship to study violin at the Prague Conservatory of Music, but chose to pursue his interest in mathematics instead.^[1]

Education

Indiana University

Cox studied at Indiana University Bloomington. Besides mathematics, Cox also took courses in German, English, Latin, history, hygiene, chemistry, educati