Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1949-1997 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
1.4 m of textual records (8 boxes)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Thomas Hull, a native of Winnipeg, first came to the University of Toronto as a student from which he graduated with his B.A. in applied mathematics in 1944, an M.A. in Physics and Meteorology in 1946 and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics in 1949. Upon graduation he took a teaching position at the University of British Columbia where he taught for 15 years and is accredited with having established Computer Science as a discipline. He returned to the University of Toronto in 1964 and held a cross appointment to the new Computer Science Department and the Department of Mathematics. From 1968-1974 he served as chair of the former department and was instrumental in attracting a number of leading scholars, with the result that by the mid 1970s the University of Toronto Computer Science Department was widely acknowledge as one of the top ten in North America.
His research interests included mainly numerical analysis and, in his late career, issues of numerical software and programming language. He was a member of various professional associations and was a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He died on August 15 1996.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Consists of the records of Dr. Thomas Hull documenting his career in applied mathematics and computer science. Includes correspondence and printed E-mail messages, talks, manuscripts of articles, research notes, reviews and recommendations, teaching files and professional association files. Dr. Hull was also a student of the well known mathematician, Leopold Infeld at the time of his resignation from the University of Toronto; there are some copies of correspondence between Hull and Infeld. Also included is Dr. Hull's collection of photographs which he took documenting various events of the Arts and Letters Club 1981-1996.
Notably missing are significant records relating to his role as a key administrator in the Department of Computer Science, his career as an influential educator and any records documenting his time at the University of British Columbia and at the University of Toronto as a student in the 1940s.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
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Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
All series open except Series 9 (Reviews and Recommendations), which are closed for 20 years from the latest date of file activity.
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Finding aids
Uploaded finding aid
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Notes area
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Description control area
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Dates of creation revision deletion
-Finding aid by Marnee Gamble
-Added to AtoM by Karen Suurtamm, Summer 2015