WOMEN MATHEMATICIANS (OTHER COUNTRIES) - K Bhanumoorthy

 

WOMEN MATHEMATICIANS (OTHER COUNTRIES)

“A Mathematics knows no races or geographic boundary; For Mathematics, the cultural world is one country.” ---- David Hilbert, A German Mathematician.

 

INTRODUCTION:

Mathematics is the queen of all sciences. We can not imagine the branch of science where there is no influence of mathematics and its use in our daily life. One can see mathematics in nature too. The petals in a lotus flower form a sequence known as ‘FIBONOCCI Sequence’. One can see symmetry in flowers. We can see even honey comb in hexagonal shape where efficient use of space while using little wax. The hexagonal shape attracted the attention of the humans since long.

Here are the five women mathematicians from different countries:

        1.Ms Ada Lovelace

 2.Ms. Hypatia

   3.Ms. Dorothy Vaughn

   4.Ms. Katherine Johnson

         5.Ms. Maryam Mirzakhani

 I.                     Ms. ADA LOVELACE: She was born on 10^th, December 1815. She is 19^th century English Mathematician. She is considered to be the first computer programmer. Mr. Babbage was working as a professor in maths at Cambridge University. She became friend of him, interacted in his idea of designing a computing device. She described the machine by an article adding some details, step by step instructions on how the machine would work. Her notes on Babbage machine have been recognised as the first algorithm to be carried out by a machine. Lovelace had a vision, made a machine with symbols and rules to compute. Her vision has become a reality today. In brief, we could say, she has been a star child and she is an analytical engineer.

II.                   Ms. HYPATIA: She is the daughter of the great mathematician and philosopher, Theon of Alexandria referred in 350 AD. She got trained by her father and became the head of Platonist School in 400 AD. She believed in the spiritual aspect of maths and thought the numbers are the spiritual language of the Universe. She divided mathematics into four branches namely: Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy and Music. She also taught the writing of Plato and Aristotle. She extended/accompanied her father in creating version of Euclid’s Elements. She was known to be great teacher and counsellor. The work started by her father Theon was carried on by her daughter Hypatia.

III.                 Ms. DOROTHY VAUGHN: She was born 20^th September 1910 at Kansas City, Missouri. She graduated at the age of 15. She is an American Mathematician and a computer programmer. She contributed to the US space program. She became a part of NASA (NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTARTION). She got degree in maths in 1929 from Wilber Force University. She worked as a maths teacher in Virginia. During 1943, she worked for NASA computing unit, a group of African-American female mathematicians called as human computer, performed computations and data analysed for Aero Space engineering. She has been expert in Fortran, a computer programming language used for scientific and algebraic applications. In 2016  a  book by Margot Lea Shetterly wrote about the contributions by Vaughn. The book was made into an acclaimed film in 2016.

IV.                Ms. KATHERINE JOHNSON: She was born 26^th August 1918. She is an American Mathematician. She was a NASA employee. She worked for the grand success of the first and subsequent US crewed Space Flight. She earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer, the use of computers to perform the tasks. The space agency noted her’ historical role as one of the first African-American woman to work as NASA scientist’. She had a tremendous mathematical capabilities and abilities to work with Space Trajectories. In 2016, she was presented with the Silver Snoopy award by NASA astronaut, Leland D. Melvin. She is known as human computer. Her calculations were also essential to the beginning of space shuttle program. She worked on plans for Mission to Mars. The first job she did was teaching. Her knowledge of analytical geometry helped her grow professionally, and she was very assertive in her approach and all official dealings.

V.                  Ms. MARYAM MIRZAKHANI: She was born on 12^th may, 1977 in Tehran. She is an Iranian Mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Stanford University. As a child, she attended Tehran Farzanegan School, part of National Organisation for Development of Exceptional Talents (NODET). She won the gold medal for mathematics in the Iranian National Olympiad. In 1994, she became the first Iranian woman to win a gold medal at the international maths Olympiad in Hongkong. She scored 41 of 42 points. In 1999, she obtained bachelors degree of science in maths from Sharif University of Technology, got Ph.D. in 2004 from Harvard University. Her work has been recognised by American Mathematical Society for the proof of the theorem of  ‘Schur’, contributed to the theory of Moduli Spaces of Riemann Surfaces. She described herself as a slow mathematician saying that ‘you have to spend some energy and effort to see the beauty of maths’. Sharif University of Technology where she graduated, named the library of the college on her name. She got many awards and rewards.

CONCLUSION: It is indeed a rich experience for me to know and be aware of the five women mathematicians of other countries (other than India) We do enjoy the outcome of selfless service, contributions made, for the cause of the society, the public in general and all nations as a whole.

“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” --------------------------- a quate by Arthur Ashe.

 

Mr K Bhanumoorthy is a retired KVS Principal. He can be contacted at - bhanu_haresh@yahoo.co.in