�

Charles Max Mason (October 26, 1877, Madison, Wisconsin – March 23, 1961, Claremont, California) was an American mathematician. Mason president of the University of Chicago (1925–1929) and president of the Rockefeller Foundation (1929–1936).

Mason's mathematical research interests included differential equations, the calculus of variations, and electromagnetic theory.

Education

• B.Litt. , 1898.
• Ph.D., Mathematics, University of G�ttingen, 1903.
  • Dissertation: "Randwertaufgaben bei gew�hnlichen Differentialgleichungen" (Boundary value functions with ordinary differential equations
  • Advisor: Hilbert

Career

• Massachusetts Institute of Technololgy (MIT), 1903–1904, Instructor of Mathematics.
• Yale University, 1904–1908, Assistant Professor of Mathematics.
• University of Wisconsin, 1908–1909, University of Wisconsin, Associate Professor of Mathematics,
• University of Wisconsin, 1909–1925, Professor of Physics.
  • National Research Council, 1917–1919, Submarine Committee. (Invented a submarine detection device, which was the basis for sonar detectors used in WW2.)
• University of Chicago, 1925–1928, President.
• Rockefeller Foundation, 1928–1929, Director, Natural Sciences Division.
• Rockefeller Foundation, 1929–1936 , President.
• Palomar Observatory (California), 1936–1949, Chairman of the team directing the construction of the observatory.