Bates, William Hunt (1870-) | Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections

Bates grew up in Woodbury, Tennessee. He attended Vanderbilt University where he was awarded the Founders Medal in 1894 and earned his BA in the same year. He received his AM from the University of Chicago in 1902, and later received his PhD at the University of Chicago in 1910. He started off his teaching career as an assistant professor of Mathematics at Purdue University in 1906.

Was a member of the American Mathematical Society.