Herta Friday

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Herta Taussig Freitag (born December 6, 1908 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary , † January 25, 2000 in Roanoke , Virginia ) was an Austrian- American mathematician . She is known for her research on the Fibonacci numbers .

Life

Herta Taussig studied mathematics and physics at the University of Vienna and received her master's degree in natural sciences in 1934. In 1938 she emigrated to England, where she worked as a housemaid, governess and teacher. Only after emigrating to the USA was she able to work as a math teacher at the Greer School in New York in 1944 . She took courses at Columbia University during the vacation while working at Hollins College in Virginia. In 1949 she received her masters degree and in 1953 she received her PhD from Columbia University. In 1950 she married Arthur Freitag, built up the mathematics department at Hollins College and was later appointed full professor.

Research and Impact

Her mathematical research area was number theory, especially recursive series and especially the Fibonacci sequence. Up until her retirement in 1971 and afterwards she received numerous awards. She was the first woman in the Mathematical Association of America to become president of the Virginia, Maryland, and District of Columbia Section in 1962 . She has attended and lectured at every international conference of the Association since 1984. She wrote numerous articles for the magazine Fibonacci Quarterly . So the Fibonacci Quarterly decided not to honor her on her 90th birthday, but at the beginning of the 89th year of life, since 89 is a number in the Fibonacci sequence.

Awards

  • 1980: Mathematics Teacher of the Year, Virginia College
  • 1997: Humanitarian Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews

literature

  • Mary Ann Johnson: One-way Ticket: The True Story of Herta Taussig Friday. 1988.
  • Sally Garber: A Dedication to Herta Taussig Friday. In: Virginia Mathematics Teacher Volume 24, No. 1, Fall 1997
  • Ilse Korotin (Ed.): BiografıA. Lexicon of Austrian Women. Volume 1: A-H. Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2016, ISBN 978-3-205-79590-2 , pp. 898-899 ( Google Books ).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Friday, Herta
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thousand Friday, Herta
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-American mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 2000
Place of death Roanoke , Virginia