A. Harry Wheeler received in 1894 his Bachelor of Science degree from
Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He taught high school in
Worcester, Massachusetts from 1894 to 1896 and then was a graduate student in mathematics from 1896 to 1899 at Clark University, but left without a degree. He taught high school mathematics in Worcester from 1899 to 1920. His
textbooks are
First Course in Algebra (1907) and
Examples in Algebra (1914). At age 47, returned in 1920 to graduate study in mathematics at
Clark University, receiving a master's degree in 1921. Wheeler was an Invited Speaker of the
ICM in 1924 at Toronto. In 1924 he began part-time teaching (in addition to his high school teaching) as an adjunct instructor of geometry, first at
Brown University and then at
Wellesley College; however, his college-level adjunct teaching ended by the early 1930s. Wheeler and
H. S. M. Coxeter planned to be coauthors (with two other mathematicians) of a short book, which was eventually named
The Fifty-Nine Icosahedra and became a minor classic of mathematical literature. However, in 1938 Wheeler objected to Coxeter's expository style so that Coxeter replaced Wheeler's name on the book's title page by another author, although Wheeler is briefly mentioned in the text. Extending work of
Max Brückner, Wheeler actually constructed previously unknown polyhedra. In particular, he produced new
stellations of the
icosahedron. This achievement impressed Coxeter, who noted Wheeler's achievement in the text. == Later life and death ==