J. Howard Redfield 1879–1944

During much of his life J. Howard Redfield earned his living as an engineer but his main interests lay elsewhere. He performed and wrote music and was a gifted linguist, familiar with almost all European languages, as well as with some African and Asian tongues. In middle age he turned his attention towards combinatorial mathematics but it was not until many years after his death that the mathematical world realized that he had obtained significant results.