Mabel Gweneth Humphreys

Last updated
Mabel Gweneth Humphreys
Born(1911-10-22)October 22, 1911
South Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
DiedOctober 6, 2006(2006-10-06) (aged 94)
Lynchburg, Virginia, USA
Nationality Canadian, American
Alma mater University of Chicago
Known for M. Gweneth Humphreys Award
Awards
Scientific career
Fields Mathematics, Number Theory
Institutions Mount St. Scholastica College, Sophie Newcomb College, Randolph-Macon Woman's College
Doctoral advisor Leonard Eugene Dickson

Mabel Gweneth Humphreys (1911-2006) was a Canadian-American mathematician and Professor of Mathematics at Randolph-Macon Woman's College. [1] The M. Gweneth Humphreys Award of the Association for Women in Mathematics was established in her honor. [2]

Contents

Education

Humphreys attended North Vancouver High School from 1925 to 1928. She received her Bachelor of Arts with honors in mathematics from the University of British Columbia in 1932, where she held scholarships for all four years. She studied at Smith College under Susan Miller Rambo, among others. She earned a master's degree in mathematics in 1933. [1] She received her Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1935. Her dissertation was entitled On the Waring Problem with Polynomial Summands and her advisor was Leonard Eugene Dickson. [1] [3]

Career

In 1981, Humphreys described her first attempts to find a job after completing her Ph.D.:

I had hoped that the University of Chicago would hear about a job for me, but only one came through, and the male candidate who got his thesis at the same time got that job. In the meantime, I had registered at a teacher’s agency in downtown Chicago, and many cards came in for the sum of something like $900, and you taught all the mathematics in the four years, and you were dean of women, or all of mathematics and coach some sport. I said to myself I wasn’t going to do this; I was going to stick around in Chicago and wait tables somewhere and study more mathematics. After awhile a card came through from Kansas, a woman’s college, and they needed a woman with a Ph.D. in either mathematics or physics to teach both. This was a substitute position, which was vacant because Sr. Helen Sullivan ... was ill. I took that and taught there for that one year. I was very busy I must say, but it was a great apprenticeship. I enjoyed it very much.

— Mabel Gweneth Humphreys (1981) [1]

From 1935 to 1936, Humphreys was an instructor of mathematics and physics at Mount St. Scholastica College. She began teaching at H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College in 1936 and was promoted to assistant professor in 1941. She was also an assistant professor at Barnard College in the summer of 1944, and an assistant professor at Tulane University in the summer of 1946. [1]

In 1949, Humphreys became an associate professor at Randolph-Macon Woman's College. After one year at Randolph-Macon, she was named Gillie A. Larew Professor and head of the mathematics department. She was head of the department until 1979. For the 1955-1956 academic year, Humphreys went on sabbatical leave to the University of British Columbia (UBC). During this time, she visited undergraduate mathematics programs at several colleges and universities to examine their methods. From 1962 to 1963, she was a visiting professor at UBC as a National Science Foundation (NSF) faculty fellow. [1]

In the summers, Humphreys taught high school teachers at NSF summer institutes. From 1965 to 1969, Humphreys worked for the Educational Testing Service. She was also a consultant in 1975 for the American Council on Education regarding mathematics course credit given by nonacademic organizations. Humphreys was an active member of the Mathematical Association of America at both the sectional and national levels. [1]

Awards and legacy

Humphreys earned the Governor General's Gold Medal in 1932, which was awarded to the college student with the highest grade point average in Canada. [1]

The M. Gweneth Humphreys Award of the Association for Women in Mathematics is named in her honor. Each year, this award is presented to a mathematics educator who has encouraged women undergraduates to pursue mathematical careers. [2]

Personal life

Humphreys was born on October 22, 1911 in South Vancouver, British Columbia. Her mother, Mabel Jane Thomas (1885-1963), was born in London, England, and worked as a dressmaker and a florist. Her father was Richard Humphreys (1880-1969), a machinist who was born in Pwllheli, Wales. Her parents were married in 1910, and Humphreys was their only child. [1] In 1941, Humphreys became a naturalized U.S. citizen. [1]

Humphreys' hobbies included gardening and reading. She was an active member of the Natural Bridge Appalachian Trail Club. She lived in Lynchburg, Virginia, through her retirement in 1980 until her death on October 6, 2006. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Eliza Maltby</span> American physicist

Margaret Eliza Maltby was an American physicist notable for her measurement of high electrolytic resistances and conductivity of very dilute solutions. Maltby was the first woman to earn a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree from MIT, where she had to enroll as a "special" student because the institution did not accept female students. Maltby was also the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Göttingen in 1895.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euphemia Haynes</span> American mathematician

Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes was an American mathematician and educator. She was the first African American woman to earn a PhD in mathematics, which she earned from the Catholic University of America in 1943.

Erica Flapan is an American mathematician, the Lingurn H. Burkhead Professor of Mathematics at Pomona College. She is the aunt of sociologist Heather Schoenfeld

Rhonda Jo Hughes is an American mathematician, the Helen Herrmann Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Bryn Mawr College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susie May Ames</span> American historian, educator and author

Susie May Ames was a twentieth century American historian, educator, and author. She conducted research on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the colonial period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suzan Rose Benedict</span> American mathematician

Suzan Rose Benedict, sometimes spelled Susan Rose Benedict, was the first woman awarded a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan and had a long teaching career at Smith College.

Susan Miller Rambo was the second woman awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and had a long teaching career at Smith College.

The M. Gweneth Humphreys Award or Humphreys Award is a mathematics award established by the Association for Women in Mathematics in recognition of mathematics educators who have exhibited outstanding mentorship. The award is named for Mabel Gweneth Humphreys (1911-2006) who earned her Ph.D. at age 23 from the University of Chicago in 1935. She taught mathematics to women for her entire career, first at Mount St. Scholastica College, then for several years at Sophie Newcomb College, and finally for over thirty years at Randolph Macon Woman's College. This award, funded by contributions from her former students and colleagues at Randolph-Macon Woman's College, recognizes her commitment to and her influence on undergraduate students of mathematics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meta Glass</span> American classics scholar and college administrator

Meta Glass was an American classics scholar, educator, and college administrator. From 1925 through 1946, she was the third president of Sweet Briar College. She was also president of the Association of American Colleges and the American Association of University Women for several years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deanna Haunsperger</span> American mathematician

Deanna Haunsperger is an American mathematician and Professor of Mathematics at Carleton College. She was the president of the Mathematical Association of America for the 2017–2018 term. She co-created and co-organized the Carleton College Summer Mathematics Program for Women, which ran every summer from 1995 to 2014.

Suzanne L. Weekes is the Executive Director of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. She is also Professor of Mathematical Sciences at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). She is a co-founder of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Undergraduate Program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erika Camacho</span> Mexican-American mathematician

Erika Tatiana Camacho is a Mexican and American mathematical biologist and professor of applied mathematics at Arizona State University. She is a 2014 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) awardee. She was taught and mentored in high school by Jaime Escalante, who was the subject of the movie Stand and Deliver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Haas</span> American mathematician and academic

Ruth Haas is an American mathematician and professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Previously she was the Achilles Professor of Mathematics at Smith College. She received the M. Gweneth Humphreys Award from the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) in 2015 for her mentorship of women in mathematics. Haas was named an inaugural AWM Fellow in 2017. In 2017 she was elected President of the AWM and on February 1, 2019 she assumed that position.

Margaret Maher Robinson is an American mathematician specializing in number theory and the theory of zeta functions. She is the Julia and Sarah Ann Adams Professor of Mathematics at Mount Holyoke College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monica Cox</span> Engineer

Monica Farmer Cox is a professor of engineering education at Ohio State University. Cox was the first African-American woman to earn tenure in engineering at Purdue University. She won the 2008 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.

Gillie Aldah Larew was an American mathematician, the first alumna of Randolph–Macon Woman's College to become a full professor there, and eventually the dean of the college.

Naomi G. Jochnowitz is an American mathematician interested in algebraic number theory. She is an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Rochester.

Raegan J. Higgins is an American mathematician and co-director of the EDGE program for Women. She is also one of the co-founders of the website Mathematically Gifted & Black, which highlights the accomplishments of Black mathematicians.

Eve Alexandra Littig Torrence is an American mathematician, a professor emerita of mathematics at Randolph–Macon College, and a former president of mathematics society Pi Mu Epsilon. She is known for her award-winning writing and books in mathematics, for her mathematical origami art, and for her efforts debunking overly broad claims regarding the ubiquity of the golden ratio.

Beulah Russell, christened Beatrice Beulah Russell and also known as Bulah Russell, was an American mathematician.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Green, Judy; Laduke, Jeanne (January 15, 2016). "Supplementary Material for Pioneering Women in American Mathematics: The Pre-1940 PhD's" (PDF). American Mathematical Society . Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Gweneth Humphreys Awards". Association for Women in Mathematics . Retrieved May 4, 2020.
  3. ↑ "M. Gweneth (Mabel) Humphreys". Mathematics Genealogy Project . Retrieved May 4, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.