Flora Philip

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Flora Philip , married Stewart , (born May 19, 1865 in Tobermory ; died August 14, 1943 in Edinburgh ) was a Scottish mathematician. She was among the first women to graduate from the University of Edinburgh .

Life

Philip was the daughter of a civil engineer William Philip and his wife Isabella McDougall in Tobermory, the capital of the Inner Hebrides belonging Isle of Mull to the world. However, the family moved soon after Tain in the municipality of Highland , where Philip at Tain Royal Academy attended school.

In 1883 Philip moved to Edinburgh. At the time, women in Scotland were not allowed to enroll in universities. As early as 1867, however, a group of women around Mary Crudelius had founded the Edinburgh Ladies' Educational Association (from 1879 Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women, EAUEW ), which, with the support of numerous professors, offered a higher education program for women based on the university curriculum oriented.

As part of the EAUEW, Philip attended courses in English literature , moral philosophy , mathematics and physiology . In addition, she was part of a learning circle that dealt with ancient Greek studies . She received several awards for her exceptional learning performance.

From 1888 she was assistant director at St. George's High School for Girls . Two years earlier she was the first woman ever to be accepted into the Edinburgh Mathematical Society .

After an amendment to the law in 1889, the University of Edinburgh admitted female students for the first time in 1892. Philip took up this offer. Since her achievements, which she had provided within the framework of the EAUEW, were widely recognized, she was able to finish her studies in 1893 after just one year with a master’s degree . She was thus one of the first eight graduates from Edinburgh University. In the same year she married the lawyer George Stewart and from then on retired as a housewife into private life. She gave up her job as a teacher and also resigned from the Edinburgh Mathematical Society.

The University of Edinburgh honored her in 1943 on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of her graduation. Philip she counts her among her important alumni .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Obituary by JJ O'Connor and EF Robertson, University of St. Andrews , accessed June 11, 2017
  2. ↑ a b M. Hartveit (2009) How Flora got her cap: the higher education of women in Edinburgh. BSHM Bulletin: Journal of the British Society for the History of Mathematics, 24: 3, 147–158.
  3. ↑ Claire Jones: Femininity, Mathematics and Science, 1880-1914 , Springer 2009, ISBN 0-230-24665-6 , p. 234
  4. ↑ Portrait on www.ed.ac.uk, (English), accessed June 11, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Philip, Flora
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stewart, Flora (married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Tobermory , UK
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 1943
Place of death Edinburgh , UK