By Kelsey Kendall
Past students will remember John Adam, Ph.D., for his impressions of “Monty Python” and “Lord of the Rings” characters. Future students will remember him for his generosity in supporting their education in mathematics – and probably his impressions too, if they get to meet him.
After 40 years, Dr. Adam retired as an applied mathematics professor at Old Dominion University. In that time, he taught many math courses, some of which he designed himself. Now that he is taking a step back from teaching, he wants to support math students in their studies by endowing a scholarship.
This comes after years of interacting with the students who came through his classes. Many students at the University are first generation and qualify for financial aid, similar to how he started out. Dr. Adam wanted to give these students some support, however he could, because he knows from experience how hard some students must work to reach their goals.
Over the years, Dr. Adam wrote multiple books on math, but he did not start out with any real interest in the subject. As a child in rural England, he was more interested in the stars and space. His parents scraped together some money to buy him a small telescope, and he had a book, “The Observer’s Book of Astronomy.” Then his teacher gave him some well-intended advice.
“He said, ‘Adam, even observational astronomers need to know a lot of mathematics, and you are very near the bottom of the class,’” Dr. Adam said. “Which was true.”
Undeterred, Dr. Adam worked to move up in the class. By the time he was getting ready for university, his teachers admired his grit. He went on to study physics for his undergraduate degree then on to get a Ph.D. in astrophysics. Slowly, his career shifted more toward applied mathematics, and then he was offered a position at Old Dominion University to help shape the mathematics department, where he found a great opportunity to work with students and administrators and improve as a professor and mathematician.
“I’ve had very supportive chairs – both literally and figuratively,” he said.
Dr. Adam had to familiarize himself with the American education system, and over the years, he became known in his classrooms for jokes and impressions. He liked to start the semesters off with a bit of comedy – like his Steve Irwin impression with a cable “snake” on the overhead projector. As silly as he is, he still wanted to help his students learn and tried to be open to answering questions. Some students would love the subject. Some would not. He just wanted them to try like he had.
“In high school, it took me maybe a whole weekend to do my geometry homework,” he said. “My brighter friends just spent half an hour on it and got full marks. But it was so obvious to them, whereas for me, once I grasped it, it was a thrill.”
Math could be found in all parts of life, including nature, which inspired his book, “Mathematics in Nature,” published in 2003. He included his own photographs of rainbows, butterflies, flowers and other parts of nature, examining the patterns and the math behind them. When he started teaching a class on the topic, many of Dr. Adam’s students would send him their own photos, inspired by the course and seeing nature in a new way.
Now that Dr. Adam has retired, he is taking the opportunity to update his book. Throughout his long career in academia, he published several books, approximately 120 papers in mathematical and scientific journals and gave nearly 200 talks and presentations. He made a lasting impact on his students, the math department and just about everyone who knows him – it’s hard for him to get around campus without running into someone who wants to stop and chat.
As Dr. Adam prepared for retirement, he and his family decided to establish a scholarship that will help recipients reach their academic goals. He worked with the ODU Planned Giving Department and learned how to use the required minimum distributions – the minimum amount one is required to withdraw from their retirement accounts each year – to create a scholarship for a mathematics student.
“This is a reflection of (Dr. Adam’s) life’s work,” Brett Smiley, director of gift planning, said. “This scholarship will continue on to support students 100 years from now.”