Dorothy Lewis Bernstein

Dorothy Lewis Bernstein (born April 11, 1914 in Chicago , Illinois , † February 5, 1988 in Providence , Rhode Island ) was an American mathematician and university professor. She was the first female president of the Mathematical Association of America .

life and work

Bernstein was born the daughter of the Jewish Russian immigrants Jacob and Tille Lewis Bernstein. She attended North Division High School in Milwaukee , Wisconsin and in 1930 the University of Wisconsin . In 1934 she completed her mathematics studies with a BA degree and an MA degree. She then did research at Brown University , where she received her doctorate under Jacob David Tamarkin in 1939 and also taught at Mount Holyoke College . Her dissertation was entitled "The Double Laplace Integral" and was published in the Duke Mathematical Journal . From 1943 to 1959 she taught at the University of Rochester , where she worked on existence theorems for partial differential equations . In 1950 Princeton University Press published their book Existential Theorems in Partial Differential Equations. From 1959 to 1979 she was professor of mathematics at Goucher College , where she was chair of the mathematics department from 1960 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1979. She was one of the early proponents of using computers in math courses. In 1961, the Goucher College was the first women's college to have its own computer, mainly because of their efforts. She was one of the three founders of the Maryland Association for Educational Uses of Computers and was instrumental in introducing computers into the high school math curriculum in Baltimore County by developing and directing summer programs . In 1979 she was appointed visiting professor for applied mathematics at Brown University, where she worked until 1985. From 1979 she lived in Connecticut with her doctoral student and former math assistant, Geraldine Coon .

She was vice president from 1972 to 1973, and from 1979 to 1980 she was the first female president of the Mathematical Association of America. She was a member of numerous national committees as well as the advisory boards of the professional associations and the National Science Foundation.

Memberships

• Mathematical Association of America
• American Mathematical Society
• Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
• American Association of University Professors
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science

literature

• "Biographies of Women Mathematicians - Dorothy Lewis Bernstein". Agnes Scott College, 2012
• Dorothy Bernstein (1979). "Women Mathematicians before 1950" (PDF). AWM newsletter. 9 (4): 9-11, 1979
• Elizabeth H. Oakes: Encyclopedia of World Scientists, 2007, p. 59, ISBN 978-0-8160-6158-7

Web links

• Biography Dorothy Lewis Bernstein
• Dorothy Lewis Bernstein, 1979-1980 MAA President
• A Guide to the Dorothy L. Bernstein Papers, 1930-2008