24 Facts About Irving Adler

Irving Adler was an American author, mathematician, scientist, political activist, and educator.

Irving Adler was the author of 57 books about mathematics, science, and education, and the co-author of 30 more, for both children and adults.

Irving Adler's books have been published in 31 countries in 19 different languages.

Irving Adler was born in Harlem, in New York City, the third of five children.

Irving Adler's Jewish parents emigrated to the United States from Galicia, a part of Austria, which today is a part of Poland, with his father coming in 1906 to seek work and his mother following four years later.

Irving Adler's father, working first as a house painter, earned enough money to start a small business selling ice, coal, wood, seltzer, and prohibition beer.

Irving Adler was given the Hebrew name Yitzchak, anglicized on his birth certificate as Isaac.

Irving Adler's name was changed to Irving by a school clerk when he was enrolled in elementary school.

Irving Adler was accelerated in school five times, entering Townsend Harris High School at age 11, and beginning City College when he was 14.

Irving Adler began his teaching career with a one-year appointment as a teacher-in-training at Stuyvesant High School.

Irving Adler joined the Unemployed Teachers Association, which filed a lawsuit that resulted in 3,500 teachers, including Adler, being elevated from substitute to regular status in one day.

Irving and Ruth Adler had two children, Stephen and Peggy.

Irving Adler taught mathematics at various New York City high schools during the 1930s and 1940s.

Irving Adler was chair of the math department at Straubenmuller Textile High School from 1946 until 1952.

Irving Adler was an active member of the New York City Teachers Union, Local 5 of the American Federation of Teachers, and was drafted into a leadership role as a member of its executive board, chairman of the educational policy committee, and then as chairman of the salary and legislative committee.

Irving Adler was reinstated and retired from the city schools in 1977, with his pension rights restored.

Irving Adler wrote his first science book for children, The Secret of Light, while still working as a teacher.

Irving Adler wrote six books a year for many years, mostly on scientific subjects for the junior-high and high-school levels.

Irving Adler wrote The Giant Golden Book of Mathematics followed by a series of six arithmetic workbooks for grade-school children, aptly named Mathematics - Grade 1 through Mathematics - Grade 6.

Irving and Ruth Adler moved from their home in Bayside, New York, to Shaftsbury, Vermont, at the end of 1960.

In 1961, Irving Adler completed his doctorate in mathematics at Columbia University under supervision of Ellis Kolchin.

Later that year, Irving Adler married Joyce Sparer, a long-time family friend who had been teaching in Guyana.

Irving and Joyce Sparer Adler co-authored Language and Man, after which she pursued her own writings.

Irving Adler gave lectures about phyllotaxis at many universities and conferences in the United States and internationally, including the University of Kansas, The Institute for Advanced Study, and West Point.