Beatrice Aitchison

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Beatrice Aitchison (born July 18, 1908 in Portland (Oregon) , † September 22, 1997 in Washington, DC ) was an American mathematician , statistician , transportation economist and university professor . She led the Transportation Economics division of the US Department of Commerce and was director of transportation research in the Bureau of Transportation for the United States Postal Service .

life and work

Aitchison attended private school in Portland for four years, and after her family moved to Washington, DC , she graduated from Central High School in Washington with honors. She then attended Goucher College from 1924 to 1928 . After completing her bachelor's degree in 1928, she worked for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York City as the first actuarial clerk. In 1929 she passed the first four parts of the exams of the American Institute of Actuaries and the Actuarial Society of America and continued her mathematics studies at Johns Hopkins University . From 1929 to 1932 she taught at Johns Hopkins University and obtained a master’s degree in 1931 . In 1933 she did her doctorate there under Gordon Thomas Whyburn with the dissertation: On Mapping with Functions of Finite Sections. She also published two articles in the same area. Since the global economic crisis was in full swing at the time of her doctorate, there were hardly any new jobs for mathematicians at the time. She applied to 145 colleges and universities and received a position at Westhampton College for Women at the University of Richmond . From 1934 to 1935 she was assistant professor of statistics at the American University in Washington, DC, but without pay. For this she received recognition for a final course in economic history. She returned to Oregon where she took an advanced course in business principles at the University of Oregon at Portland. In 1936 she worked for the Oregon Historical Records Survey of the Work Progress Administration in Portland. From 1936 to 1937 she studied at the University of Oregon and received her second master's degree. When she returned to Washington in 1937, she taught statistics at American University in 1938/1939 and as a faculty member of the graduate school of the US Department of Agriculture. She taught economics at the University of Oregon from 1939 to 1942, but returned to the federal government in 1942 to work in transportation economics until her retirement. From 1942 to 1951 she worked as a statistician and later a transportation economist for the Interstate Commerce Commission . She taught at American University from 1942 to 1944 and advised the Office of Defense Transportation during World War II . In 1946 she was a founding member of the American Society of Traffic and Transportation (now the American Society of Transportation and Logistics). From 1951 to 1953, she headed the transportation economics division of the US Department of Commerce's Office of Transportation. However, this department was dissolved in 1953. She then became director of transportation research for the United States Postal Service's Bureau of Transportation and was the first woman to be appointed to a political-level post office. When she retired in July 1971, she was one of the highest-ranking women in the federal service.

Recognitions

The Interstate Commerce Commission gave Aitchison the first Federal Woman's Awards in 1961, which gave Aitchison the opportunity to persuade President Lyndon Johnson to draft an executive order banning sex discrimination in the US government. In 1965 she was elected a Fellow of the American Statistical Association . In 1970 she received the National Civil Service League's Career Service Award and in 1997 the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association presented her with the Woodrow Wilson Award. In 1996 she was named a College of Arts Alumni Fellow at the University of Oregon.

Memberships

Publications (selection)

  • 1932: Regular accessibility. Amer. Math. Monthly 39.
  • 1933: On mapping with functions of finite sections. Amer. Math. Monthly 40.
  • 1933: Concerning regular accessibility. Find. Math. 20.
  • 1935: On the mapping of locally connected continua into simple arcs. CR Soc. Sc. Varsovie 27.
  • 1941: Preliminary examination of factors affecting the demand for rail passenger travel. Washington, DC: Interstate Commerce Commission, Bureau of Statistics, Statement no.4129.
  • 1943: A description of the principal class rate scales prescribed by the Interstate Commerce Commission: together with an analysis of their progression for distance, and a method of scale construction. Washington, DC: Interstate Commerce Commission, Bureau of Transport Economics and Statistics, Statement no. 4351.
  • 1946: Weight density and value as factors in freight classification. Washington, DC: Interstate Commerce Commission, Bureau of Transport Economics and Statistics, Statement no.469.
  • 1964: Productivity in purchase of transportation for mail, fiscal years 1953-1962. In: Case study of Post Office productivity. Report for the Bureau of the Budget. Summary in "Measuring productivity of federal government organizations." Washington, DC: US ​​Bureau of the Budget. App. V-1,234.

literature

  • Judy Green, Jeanne LaDuke: Pioneering Women in American Mathematics: The Pre-1940 PhD's. 2009, ISBN 978-0-8218-4376-5 .
  • “Army Calls 9,565 More Officers; Chaplains, Aviation Men Summoned. " New York Times, Sep 19, 1950.
  • 'Queen Bea' of Her Profession. Goucher Alumnae Quarterly, Summer 1952, 16.
  • Awards Go to Six as Career Women, New York Times, Feb 13, 1961.
  • She Keeps the Mails Moving, Washington Post, Feb 19, 1961.
  • 6 Career Women in Government Get First Civil-Service Awards. New York Times, Feb 25, 1961.
  • 10 Winners Named for Service Award, New York Times, 22 Mar 1970.
  • Waste-Watcher, Forbes, Jul 1, 1970.
  • Depression Era Alumna Recalls Lengthy Career, Casement, Alumni Newsletter for the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oregon, Spring 1995: 6.
  • Pearson, Richard: Retired Postal Official Beatrice Aitchison Dies, Washington Post, 29 Sep 1997

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Aitchison, Beatrice
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mathematician, statistician, transportation economist, and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Portland, Oregon
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 1997
Place of death Washington, DC