Ellen Hayes

Ellen Amanda Hayes (September 23, 1851-October 27, 1930) was an American mathematician and astronomer. Born in Granville, Ohio, she graduated from Oberlin College in 1878. From 1879 to her 1916 retirement, she taught at Wellesley College, where she became head of the mathematics department in 1888 and head of the new department in applied mathematics in 1897. Hayes wrote a number of mathematics textbooks. Hayes was also active in astronomy, determining the orbit of newly-discovered 267 Tirza.

Hayes was a controversial figure not just for being a rare female mathematics professor in 19th century America, but for her embrace of radical causes like questioning the Bible and gender clothing conventions, suffrage, temperance, socialism, the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike, and Sacco and Vanzetti. She was the Socialist Party candidate for Massachusetts Secretary of State in 1912, the first woman in state history to run for statewide office.

References

• Louise S. Grinstein (Editor), Paul J. Campbell (Editor) (1987). Women of Mathematics: A Bio-Bibliographic Sourcebook. Greenwood Press, New York. ISBN 978-0313248498. p. 62-66