Winifred edgerton merrill biography
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Winifred Edgerton Merrill
American mathematician (1862–1951)
Winifred Edgerton (September 24, 1862 – September 6, 1951) was born in Ripon, Wisconsin. She was the first woman to receive a degree from Columbia University[1] and the first American woman to receive a PhD in mathematics.[2] She was awarded a PhD with high honors from Columbia University in 1886, by a unanimous vote of the board of trustees, after being rejected once.[3]
Early life and education
[edit]Winifred Haring Edgerton was born in Ripon, Wisconsin on September 24, 1862. She was the only daughter of Clara and Emmett Edgerton, who apparently were well enough off to build her a small home observatory. She earned her B.A. degree from Wellesley College in 1883, and taught for a time at Sylvanus Reed's School.[4] She continued her interest in astronomy by independently using data from the Harvard observatory to calculate the orbit of the Pons-Brooks comet of 1883. S
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Winifred Edgerton Merrill
September 24, 1862 - September 6, 1951
Winifred Edgerton, the first American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics, was born in Ripon, Wisconsin. She was a direkt descendent of Elder William Brewster of Plymouth Colony. She received her early education from private tutors before earning her B.A. degree from Wellesley College in 1883. After some work at Harvard she was allowed to study mathematics and astronomy at Columbia University. At the end of her second year she petitioned to receive a Ph.D. degree, having fulfilled the required credits and written an original thesis titled "Multiple Integrals" that dealt with geometric interpretations of multiple integrals and translations and relations of various systems of coordinates. Her work in mathematical astronomy included computation of the orbit of the comet of 1883. Despite the support of President Barnard, a campaigner for women's education, the board of trustees refused her application. Barnard s
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Winifred Edgerton Merrill
Winifred Edgerton Merrill (* 24. September1862 in Ripon, Wisconsin als Winifred Harington Edgerton; † 6. September1951 in Fairfield, Connecticut) war eine US-amerikanische Schulleiterin und die erste Frau, die in den USA in Mathematikpromoviert wurde.
Leben
[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]Merrill interessierte sich schon seit ihrer Jugend für Astronomie und studierte am Wellesley College mit dem Bachelor-Abschluss 1883. Danach unterrichtete sie als Lehrerin, befasste sich aber weiter mit Astronomie. Nachdem es ihr 1883 gelang, aus Daten des Harvard-Observatoriums die Bahn des Pons-Brooke-Kometen vorherzusagen, wurde ihrem Antrag stattgegeben, das Observatorium der Columbia University zu benutzen. Dort studierte sie Mathematik und Astronomie. Nachdem ihr erster Anlauf, einen Abschluss zu erhalten, zurückgewiesen wurde, folgte sie dem Rat des Präsidenten Frederick A. P. Barnard, mit jedem der Trustees der Universität einzeln zu sprechen u