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Collection Overview

Creator:
Lotka, Alfred J. (Alfred James) (1880-1949)
Title:
Alfred J. Lotka Papers
Repository:
Public Policy Papers
Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/nv935285j
Dates:
1881-1966 (mostly 1925-1950)
Size:
34 boxes, 1 folder, and 2 items
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-34
Language:
English

Abstract

Alfred J. Lotka (1880-1949), a statistician for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, was a significant contributor to the field of demography. He was a pioneer in the study of population dynamics and conducted research on the mathematical theory of evolution and the mathematical analysis of populations. Lotka's papers document his scholarship and his involvement in professional organizations and include drafts of his works, his notes and research materials, and correspondence.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

Lotka's papers document his scholarship and his involvement in professional organizations and include drafts of his works, his notes and research materials, and correspondence. The majority of the papers are related to his research on population analysis and his book Elements of Physical Biology.

Please see the series descriptions in the contents list for additional information about individual series.

Arrangement

The Papers have been arranged in four series:

Collection Creator Biography:

Lotka

Alfred J. Lotka (1880-1949), a statistician for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, was a significant contributor to the field of demography. He was a pioneer in the study of population dynamics and conducted research on the mathematical theory of evolution and the mathematical analysis of populations. In addition to his work on demography, he published in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematical social sciences such as economics.

Alfred James Lotka was born on March 2, 1880 in Lemberg, Austria (now Lviv, Ukraine) to Jacques and Marie Doebely Lotka, both American citizens. He married Romola Beattie on January 5, 1935. Lotka's early education was in France, Germany, and England. He began study at Birmingham University, England in 1898 and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1901. He then spent a year studying chemistry at Leipzig University from 1901 to 1902. During this period, he developed his interest in the mathematical theory of evolution, which would be the foundation for his life's work.

Lotka came to the United States in 1902, where he worked as an assistant chemist at the General Chemical Company in New York until 1908. While there, he published his first papers on the mathematical theory of evolution and on population analysis. He entered Cornell University as a graduate student and assistant in physics in 1908 and received his M.A. degree in 1909.

Following his education at Cornell University, Lotka worked as an examiner at the United States Patent Office (1909), assistant physicist at the United States Bureau of Standards (1909-1911), and as an editor of the Scientific American Supplement (1911-1914). He received his Doctor of Science degree from Birmingham University in 1912. Lotka then returned to General Chemical Company, where he worked as a chemist from 1914 to 1919. While he held these various positions, Lotka continued his investigations into the mathematical theory of evolution. From 1922 to 1924, he accepted a temporary research appointment in Raymond Pearl's Human Biology group at Johns Hopkins University to focus on his studies. The result of his work was the publication Elements of Physical Biology (1925).

In 1924, Lotka began his employment at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York City, where he would stay until he retired in 1947. He was the supervisor of mathematical research in the Statistical Bureau (1924-1933), a general supervisor (1933-1934), and an assistant statistician (1934-1947). While there, he also continued to develop the demographic analysis he had started during his undergraduate education. His book Theorie Analytique des Associations Biologiques, published in two parts in 1934 and 1939 in Paris, summarized the essentials of his work on the mathematical theory of evolution and on the mathematics of population analysis.

Lotka was active in many professional organizations, serving as President of the Population Association of America (1938-1939), Vice President (1938-1939) and President (1942) of the American Statistical Association, Vice President of the International Union for the Scientific Investigation of Population Problems (1948-1949), and Chairman of the United States National Committee of the Union (1948-1949). He was a fellow of the American Public Health Association, the American Statistical Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and was a member of many learned societies.

Throughout his career, Lotka wrote more than one hundred scientific papers, published in academic and technical journals as well as popular magazines, in the United States and abroad. His writings encompassed a wide variety of subjects, including mathematical analyses of population and the theory of evolution, actuarial mathematics applied to problems of population and industrial replacement, theoretical and applied demography, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and other mathematical social sciences such as economics. In addition to the books Elements of Physical Biology and Theorie Analytique des Associations Biologiques, which together summarize the essentials of his research, Lotka was the co-author of three books in the field of public health: The Money Value of a Man (1930), Length of Life (1936), and Twenty-five Years of Health Progress (1937). All three were co-written with Louis I. Dublin, Vice President and Statistician at the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.

During his retirement, Lotka revised and translated portions of Theorie Analytique des Associations Biologiques into English. He died on December 5, 1949 in Red Bank, New Jersey.

Collection History

Acquisition:

This collection was donated to the Princeton University Library Special Collections Department in May 1952 , with an addition in May 1953 .

Custodial History

The Alfred J. Lotka Papers were donated to the Princeton University Library Special Collections Department, through the efforts of Frank Notestein. The papers were transferred to the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library in August 2002.

Appraisal

The materials separated from this collection include personal papers and duplicate materials.

Sponsorship:

These papers were processed with the generous support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and the John Foster and Janet Avery Dulles Fund.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Adriane Hanson, Christopher Shannon, and Jessie Thompson in 2006. Finding aid written by Adriane Hanson in June 2006.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Credit this material:

Alfred J. Lotka Papers; Public Policy Papers, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/nv935285j
Location:
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
65 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
(609) 258-6345
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-34

Find More

Related Materials

This collection is part of a group of 28 Mudd Manuscript Library collections related to 20th century economic thought and development which were processed as part of a National Historical Publications and Records Commission funded project. Researchers wishing to access these collections should search for the subject "Economics--20th century" or related terms in the Princeton University Library Main Catalog. Three collections at the Mudd Manuscript Library of particular relevance to the Lotka Papers are the papers of Frank W. Notestein and Ansley J. Coale, both demographers at the Office of Population Research at Princeton University, and the Hugh Moore Fund Records, which include a significant section on population control.

Bibliography

The following sources were consulted during the preparation of the biographical note: "Lotka, Alfred J. (1880-1949)" in New Palgrave A Dictionary of Economics, eds. John Eatwell, Murray Milgate and Peter Newman, Macmillan Reference LTD, 1998. Materials from Series 1: Biographical; Alfred J. Lotka Papers; Public Policy Papers, Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Subject Terms:
Demography.
Economics -- 20th century.
Evolution (Biology) -- Mathematical models.
Population research.
Genre Terms:
Correspondence
Notes.
Writings.
Names:
American statistical association
International Union for the Scientific Study of Population.
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
Lotka, Alfred J. (Alfred James) (1880-1949)