Biographies and History of Women Mathematical Scientists: Abstracts

Delores Wilkins, 61, a mathematics teacher at Langston Hughes Middle School in Reston VA who was a past president of the Reston chapter of the National Council of Negro Women, died May 11, 1995

Article on math prodigy Ruth Lawrence.

Interview on Mary Ellen Rudin conducted an International Congress of Mathematics in Berkeley, CA in 1986. Many photographs accompany the article.

Includes suggested topics for undergraduate math club programs and brief biographical information.

In Memoriam piece about Russian mathematician and 1995 Noether Lecturer Olga Arsen’evna Oleinik. Oleinik supervised over 60 Ph.D. student and made profound contributions to the study of partial differential equations.

Memorium of U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Hopper, who died January 1, 1992 and was co-inventor of the computer language COBOL.

Sophie Germain (1776-1831) of France worked in both number theory and physics. Her work in physics on the modes of vibration of elastic surfaces won a competition sponsored by the French Academy of Science in 1809.

This book is the outcome of the Women and Mathematics Topic Area at the 6th International Congress on Mathematics Education held in Budapest, Hungary, in 1988.

The contributions of Emmy Noether to particle physics fall into two categories. One is given under the rubric of Noether's theorem, and the other may be described as her important contributions to modern mathematics. These will be discussed along with an historical account of her work and what its impact has been. In addition a brief biography is given.

A detailed list of 70 women mathematicians, providing dates of birth and death, nationality, areas of interest, and related reference material. Includes extensive index of references in biographic dictionaries, encyclopedias, books, and periodical literature.

A collection of biographies of 43 women mathematicians with a foreword by Alice Schafer, introduction by Jeanne LaDuke, and appendices giving biographees in chronological order by birthdate and by place of origin, highest education, place of work, and field of mathematical work. Also has an appendix on references in biographical dictionaries and other collections.

Biographical sketch of a black woman mathematician.

This captivating book gives voice to women mathematicians from the late eighteenth century through to the present day. It documents the complex nature of the conditions women around the world have faced--and continue to face--while pursuing their careers in mathematics. The stories of the three women above and those of many more appear here, each one enlightening and inspiring. The earlier parts of the book provide historical context and perspective, beginning with excursions into the lives of fifteen women born before 1920. Included are histories of collective efforts to improve women’s opportunities in research mathematics. In addition, a photo essay puts a human face on the subject as it illustrates women’s contributions in professional associations.

Biographical sketches of Hypatia, Maria Agnesi, Emile du Chatelet, Mary Somerville, Sophie Germain, and Sofia Kovalevskaya.

Profiles of 22 notable female mathematicians and scientists.

Discusses the work of Alicia Boole Stott.

Interview with the first woman president of AAAS.

BIography of Emmy Noether, the mother of modern algebra.

Short biographies of Agnesi, Germain, Somerville, Kovalevskaya, and Noether.

Reprint of article that appeared in the Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society in March of 1981.

Focus on Charlotte Angas Scott, Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler, Olive Clio Hazlett, Mildred Leonora Sanderson, Christin Ladd-Franklin, Winifred Edgerton Merrill, Mary Winston Newson, Mary Emily Sinclari, and Mayme Irwin Logsdon.

Includes short professional profiles of a dozen mathematicians.

Includes biographical sketches on Ada Lovelace, Sofia Kovalevskaia, Emmy Noether, and Julia Bowman Robinson.

This book is based on interviews with women who have worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) since the 1940s.

Includes reproductions and comments on the correspondence between Lovelace and Babbage.

In Memoriam piece about Alice Dickinson who joined the faculty of Smith College in 1959 as the only woman in the mathematics department. Dickinson was a gifted teacher and an innovative Dean who introduced new programs of engineering and dance at Smith and the Ada Comstock Program, which enabled older women to return to Smith and complete their college degrees in individualized programs.

In Memoriam piece on Dorothy McCoy who was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Iowa. McCoy taught at Belhaven College in Mississippi and Wayland Baptist College.

Short biographies of Hypatia, Maria Agnesi, Sophie Germain, Sophia Kovalevskaya, and Emmy Noether.

Short biographies of Hypatia, Maria Agnesi, Sophie Germain, Sophia Kovalevskaya, and Emmy Noether.

Discusses notable black American mathematicians including Gloria Conyers Hewitt.

Includes 21 brief biographies.

Includes 21 brief biographies with photographs. Reprint of a 1981 article in the American Mathematical Monthly.

Autobiographical novel, first published in 1889.

Reprint of the 1894 article in Century.

Collection of papers presented at a conference organized by MOIFEM (Mouvement international poiur les femmes et l'enseignment de la mathematique) in Montreal, June 6-7, 1986.

Brief remarks on the Foreign Language Publishing House translation of the biography of Sonia Kovalevskaia by her friend Anne Charlotte Leffler (sister of mathematician Göstay Mittag-Leffler).

This memorial article offers reminiscences about Olga Taussky-Todd written by students and colleagues. The article discusses her mathematical work and includes a biographical sketch.

Contains a disccussion on the life and work of Mary Everest Boole and Alicia Boole Stott

Article on Maria Agnesi

Obituary of Nina Karlovna Bari.

Detailed biography of the Marquise du Chatelet, based on manuscripts and published materials.

Women Becoming Mathematicians looks at the lives and careers of thirty-six of the approximately two hundred women who earned Ph.D.s in mathematics from American institutions from 1940 to 1959. During this period, American mathematical research enjoyed an unprecedented expansion, fueled by the technological successes of World War II and the postwar boom in federal funding for education in the basic sciences. Yet women’s share of doctorates earned in mathematics in the United States reached an all-time low. This book explores the complex interplay between the personal and professional lives of those women who embarked on mathematical careers during this period, with a view to understanding how changes in American society during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s affected their career development and identities as mathematicians.The book is based on extensive interviews with thirty-six women mathematicians of the postwar generation, as well as primary and secondary historical and sociological research. Taking a life-course approach, the book examines the development of mathematical identity across the life span, from childhood through adulthood and into retirement. It focuses on the process by which women who are actively involved in the mathematical community come to “know themselves” as mathematicians. The women's stories are instructive precisely because they do not conform to a set pattern; compelled to improvise, the women mathematicians of the 1940s and 1950s followed diverse paths in their struggle to construct a professional identity in postwar America.

A personal account of how one woman became a mathematician despite alienation and lack of support.

Biographical sketch of Emmy Noether by her niece, Emiliana P. Noether, a historian who specializes in Italian history.

Biographical sketches of Hypatia, Maria Agnesi, Emilie de Breteuil, Caroline Herschel, Sophie Germain, Mary Fairfax Somerville, Sonya Kovalevsky, and Emmy Noether. Also includes chapters entitled History, The Golden Age of Mathematics, and The Feminine Mathtique.

Discusses Hypatia, Chatelet, Agnesi, Germain, Somerville, Lovelace, Kovalevskaya, Young, and Noether.

Discusses Somerville, Lovelace, Kovalevsky, Boole, Noether, Blum, Granville, Montalvo, Paisano, and Pappas.

Autobiography of Julia Robinson, the first female mathematician elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and the first woman president of the American Mathematical Society.

This two part series exploring the life and times of Austrian-born physicist Lise Meitner is a prelude to the biography of Lise Meitner written by Pat Rife during her graduate career at Union Graduate School. Meitner had solid mathematical training. She worked closely with chemist Otto Hahn, who was awarded the Nobel prize for Chemistry due to joint research with Meitner on nuclear fission. Some feel that the failure to recognize Meitner for her role in this work was one of the biggest mistakes made by the Nobel committee.

Summarizes the lives of Hypatia, Emilie du Chatelet, Maria Agnesi, Sophie Germain, Mary Somerville, and Ada Lovelace.

Reprint of 1981 article in the Mathematical Chronicle. Summarizes the lives of Hypatia, Emilie du Chatelet, Maria Agnesi, Sophie Germain, Mary Somerville, and Ada Lovelace.

Letters of the first programmer, Ada Lovelace.

Memoriam in honor of the mother of abstract algebra.

Biographical sketch of 1893 mathematics student Mary Frances Winston.

Biographical sketch of mathematician Grace Chisolm Young by her granddaugher, mathematician Sylvia Wiegand.

Syvlia Wiegand chronicles the life of her grandparents, mathematicians Grace Chisolm and William Henry Young.

Obituary of Carol Karp