Welcome to the web site for biographies of women in mathematics. These pages are part
of an on-going project at Agnes Scott College
in Atlanta, Georgia, to
illustrate the numerous achievements of women in the field of mathematics.
Here you can find biographical essays or comments
on the
women mathematicians profiled on this site, as well as additional resources about women in mathematics. Each time this page is reloaded, a randomly selected photo is displayed to the left (if Javascript is enabled). Click on the image to go to the profile of that woman.
We also
welcome contributions of biographical information or essays from those outside Agnes
Scott College. If you are interested in contributing an essay, please send your
contribution to the email address below. Comments, suggestions, or
corrections can also be sent to this address.
Did you know? (See the Archive for past announcements)
- The mathematics departments at the University of Washington and the University of Montana at Missoula recently established the Gloria Hewitt Graduate Scholarship in Mathematics in honor of Gloria Hewitt, a 1961 Ph.D. graduate of the University of Washington. A special celebration was held in March 2018 by the University of Montana where Professor Hewitt taught for 38 years. The scholarships provides support for master's and doctoral students in mathematics with a preference for students from underrepresented minorities. For more information, see the article in the Summer 2018 National Association of Mathematicians Newsletter, page 11.
- Congratulations to Ingrid Daubechies for winning the 2018 William Benter Prize in Applied Mathematics. She is the first female recipient of this $100,000 prize that is given to recognize outstanding mathematical contributions that have had a direct and fundamental impact on scientific, business, finance and engineering applications. For more information see the press release from the City University of Hong Kong.
- Congratulations to Margaret Beck of Boston University for receiving the first AMS Joan and Joseph Birman Fellowship for Women Scholars for the 2018-2019 academic year in recognition of her exceptional research on stability problems in partial differential equations and spatially extended dynamical systems. For more information, see the news release from the American Mathematical Society.
- In February 2018, women mathematicians from all over the world responded to a call for clips in which they were asked to introduce themselves. The result, a 14 minute video called "Faces of Women in Mathematics," includes 146 clips of 243 women mathematicians from 36 different countries and speaking 31 different languages. Watch the 14 minute video here. A shorter 3 minute trailer can be viewed here. Supported by the Committee for Women in Mathematics of the International Mathematical Union. For more information, see the press release.
- In celebration of Women's History Month, the Notices of the American Mathematical Society and Women’s History Month guest editors Margaret A. Readdy and Christine Taylor present profiles of the first graduating class of women mathematicians from Princeton and twenty-seven contemporary women in math. Read the profiles in the March issue of the AMS Notices, Volume 65, No. 3, pages 248-303.
- Report from Maria-Francoise Roy, Chair of the IMU Committee for Women in Mathematics, from the January 2018 IMU Newsletter:
The Committee for Women in Mathematics (CWM) received 55 applications for its 2018 call of which it approved 10. Most of the grants are devoted to developing regional networks for Women in Mathematics, in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Often the initiatives take the form of a meeting with both a mathematical part and a career development part. This is the case for two regional meetings of the African Women in Mathematics Association (AWMA), one taking place in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) for East Africa and one taking place in Ibadan (Nigeria) for West Africa, and also for the second Central Asia Women in Mathematics Association meeting taking place in Uzbekistan. The focus of the support given to the Indian Women in Mathematics association is for the participation of women from the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation at their meeting at Shiv Nadar University in Uttar Pradesh. The first workshop of "Women in mathematics in the Balkan region" taking place in Skopje (Macedonia) will involve several neighbouring countries. A Workshop in El Salvador (supported by the Vice Minister of Science and Technology and the ICSU Regional Office of Latin America and the Caribbean) entitled "Why Mathematics? : Encouraging girls to pursue the dream of becoming teachers or researchers in this discipline" will be focused on less developed Central American countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama. An activity inspired by the series of meetings "Women in ..." (see for example "Women in numbers") held at the Banff International Research station, is going to take place for the first time in South America, in Uruguay.
The African Women in Mathematics Association will also be writing portraits of African women mathematicians, both to post on AWMA website and to publish as a booklet to be used for promoting mathematics among young African women.
Two further events are taking place in Europe, an ICTP school in Trieste (Italy) on Dynamical Systems, with all female organizers and lecturers, and the European Women in Mathematics General Meeting taking place in Graz (Austria). In both cases the CWM grant will be used to support the attendance of women from developing countries.
- Nouzha El Yacoubi was elected in July 2017 as President of the African Mathematical Union (AMU) for the period 2017-2021. She is the first woman in this position.
- Congratulations to Maryna Viazovska of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology for having been awarded the 2017 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize. This prize, established in 2005, is This nomination is the crowning achievement of a brilliant career of research and service. In particular, Nouzha El Yacoubi had been the first woman Secretary General of AMU in 2004-2009 and she has chaired the AMU Commission on Pan African Mathematics Olympiads from 1995 to 2009.awarded annually for outstanding contributions by
young mathematicians no older than 32 to areas influenced by Srinivasa Ramanujan (who died at the age of 32). To read the prize citation, see the second page of the Mathematical People section of the January 2018 issue of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society. Read more about her at Wikipedia.
- The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) has established the AWM Fellows
Program to recognize individuals who have demonstrated
a sustained commitment to the support and advancement
of women in the mathematical sciences, consistent with
the AWM mission: "to encourage women and girls to study
and to have active careers in the mathematical sciences,
and to promote equal opportunity and the equal treatment
of women and girls in the mathematical sciences." To see the list of inaugural fellows, visit the AWM webpage on the launch of the AWM Fellows Program.
- The IMU Committee for Women in Mathematics (CWM) welcomes the mathematical community to the World Meeting for Women in Mathematics - (WM)2, a satellite event of the ICM 2018. The (WM)2 will bring together mathematicians from all over the world to think about and discuss gender issues in mathematics, its challenges, initiatives, and perspectives for the future, with a strong focus on Latin America. The (WM)2 will take place at Riocentro convention center on July 31, 2018. Its program includes research talks, group discussions about gender issues in mathematics, a panel discussion and poster presentation. There will also be a tribute to Maryam Mirzakhani. For more details, see the conferences website.
- Check out the new WomenDoMath website at https://www.womendomath.org/. This NSF supported site brings "news and resources about women and other groups or individuals in mathematics that accurately represent the diversity of the math community. WDM aims to provide a central hub and resources pool within reach for women in mathematics."
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Talitha Washington, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Howard University, has been appointed by the National Science Foundation as the Division of Undergraduate Education Program Director for the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education program. The goal of this program is to strengthen STEM education at two- and four-year colleges and universities by improving curricula, instruction, laboratories, infrastructure, assessment, diversity of students and faculty, and collaborations. For more information about Professor Washington, see her website at www.talithawashington.com.
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Congratulations to the U.S. team of Qi Qi, Angela Deng, Wanlin Li, and Siye Zhu, who took first place at the European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad held April 6-12, 2017 in Zurich, Switzerland. Each member of the team was awarded a gold medal for their individual performance. For more information, see the MAA press release. For information about the competition, including the problems, team scores, and individual scores, see theEGMO website.
AWM Biographies Contest
To increase awareness of women's ongoing contributions to the mathematical
sciences, the Association for Women in Mathematics sponsors an essay
contest for biographies of contemporary women mathematicians and
statisticians in academic, industrial, and government careers. This
contest is open to students in the following categories: Grades 6-8,
Grades 9-12, and College Undergraduate. At least one winning submission will be chosen from each category. Winners will receive a prize, and their essays will be published online at the AWM website. Additionally, a grand prize winner will have his or her submission published in the AWM Newsletter. For more information and to see the results of past Essay Contests, go to http://www.awm-math.org/biographies/contest.html.
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Agnes Scott College, founded in 1889, is a private liberal arts college for women in
Decatur, a part of Atlanta, Georgia.
Looking for college scholarships for women? Agnes Scott, a top liberal arts college, offers women generous scholarships based on academic record, academic interests, and ethnic and religious affiliations.
Visit the Agnes Scott College Mathematics
Department website.
https://www.AgnesScott.edu/lriddle/women/women.htm
