Elizabeth LeStourgeon

Flora Elizabeth LeStourgeon (born June 1, 1880 in Farmville (Virginia) , United States , † February 6, 1971 in Bridgetown , New Jersey ) was an American mathematician and university professor.

life and work

LeStourgeon was the third of seven children and, according to her master's thesis, she attended elementary and secondary school at Virginia State Normal School (officially the State Female Normal School in Farmville; now Longwood University ). In 1987 she graduated and until 1906 held various teaching positions at a public school in Bridgeton, New Jersey , in Waynesboro, Virginia, and at St. Katharine's School in Bolivar, Tennessee. She studied at the University of Virginia for several summersafter a summer program was established in 1907 mainly for public school teachers. This program allowed women to take courses in the summer, but did not give course credit to the participants. She then studied at Georgetown College in Kentucky in 1908 and received her bachelor's degree there after one year . In 1913 she received her master's degree from the University of Chicago . For the next two years she taught mathematics at Beaver College in Pennsylvania , then a women's college and now Arcadia University , before returning to the University of Chicago to complete her doctorate in 1917 with Gilbert Ames Bliss . The title of her dissertation was: Minima of Functions of Lines. After graduating, she taught at the Liggett School for Girls in Detroit . From 1918 to 1919 she was a lecturer at Mount Holyoke College and an assistant professor at Carleton College the following year . From 1920 to 1926 she was an assistant professor at the University of Kentucky , then an associate professor until 1946. Her youngest brother Percy Earl LeStourgeon was stationed as an assistant at the University of Kentucky and from 1929 to 1935 professor of military science. She had frequent contact with him during her studies at the University of Kentucky and served as an officer in the White Mathematics Club and the Pi Mu Epsilon Chapter. She was a member of the Kentucky Academy of Science and by 1940 she was active in various mathematical organizations. In 1948 and 1950 Delray Beach, Florida was registered as its address on the AMS membership list. She lived in Washington, DC until 1952 , but apparently continued to spend the winter in Florida.

Memberships

Publications (selection)

1920: Minima of functions of lines, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 21st
1922: Infinite series in the theory of potential, Amer. Math. Monthly 29
1927: Some remarks on functional calculus, Amer. Math. Monthly 34
1930: Queen Dido's problem, Amer. Math. Monthly 37

literature

Judy Green, Jeanne LaDuke: Pioneering Women in American Mathematics: The Pre-1940 PhD's, 2009, ISBN 978-0-8218-4376-5 .
Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie: The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives from Ancient Times to the Mid-20th Century, 2000, ISBN 978-0415920384

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	LeStourgeon, Elizabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	LeStourgeon, Flora Elizabeth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American mathematician and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH	June 1, 1880
PLACE OF BIRTH	Farmville, Virginia
DATE OF DEATH	February 6, 1971
Place of death	Bridgetown , New Jersey