Science & invention
Abraham Nemeth
1918–2013 · mathematician, inventor of Nemeth Braille
Blind mathematician from a Hungarian-Jewish immigrant family who taught at the University of Detroit for three decades and created the Nemeth Braille Code for mathematics.
- Born
New York City, New York- Died
aged 94- Detroit years
- 1955–2013
- Field
- Science & invention
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Nemeth was born blind on Manhattan's Lower East Side to a large family of Yiddish-speaking Hungarian Jewish immigrants. In 1952 his system for writing mathematical and scientific notation in braille was published; it became the standard in North America. In the mid-1950s he moved to Detroit to join the mathematics faculty of the University of Detroit, where he taught for thirty years until retiring in 1985. He lived close enough to the campus to walk to work, later moving to Oak Park. Michigan's governor appointed him chairman of the state commission for the blind. He died in 2013 and was buried in a Jewish cemetery in suburban Detroit.
Highlights
- Nemeth Braille Code for mathematics published in 1952
- Professor at the University of Detroit for about 30 years, retired 1985
- Chaired Michigan's commission for the blind
- Buried in a Jewish cemetery in suburban Detroit
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1955–1985
University of Detroit (now University of Detroit Mercy)
Jesuit university on McNichols Road where Nemeth taught mathematics for three decades.