Leona May Peirce

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Leona May Peirce (born August 4, 1863 in Norway (Maine) , † September 24, 1954 in Springfield (Massachusetts) ) was an American mathematician .

Life and research

Peirce lived most of her life in Springfield, Massachusetts, where her father Levi Peirce was a music dealer. She received her bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1886 . From 1886 to 1889 she taught math, physics, and chemistry at the Springfield Collegiate Institute before studying math, history of philosophy, and physics at Cornell University for a year . She returned to Massachusetts to teach math for boys at Mt. Herman Scool for a year. There followed a year studying mathematics at Newnham College of Cambridge Universityin England. Peirce returned to Smith College from 1892 to 1893 for a Masters in Mathematics. She studied math and history of philosophy again at Cornell, then spent three years as a private student at Clark University before finally enrolling at Yale University . In 1899 she did her doctorate with Kelly Lynn Brinley with the dissertation: Chain-Differentiants of a Ternary Quantic. Her father's sudden death made her run a music retail business with a chain of stores that did half a million dollars a year before the Depression. She was very involved in Springfield community activities during the first two decades of the 20th century. She served on the Springfield School Board, President of Springfield College Club and the Western Massachusetts Branch of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae for eleven years. She was trustee of Wesson Memorial Hospital for nine years and director of the Springfield Civil Service Reform League for five years. However, the Great Depression of 1929 could have caused her music business to fail as she returned to teaching math and physics at Barrington School from 1928 to 1932 and algebra and English at Leominster High School from 1932 to 1934. In the summer months from 1930 to 1932, she studied mathematics at Harvard University . She retired in 1937 and lived in Springfield until her death in 1954.

Memberships

  • ACA (later: American Association of University Women)
  • Phi Beta Kappa

literature

  • "Miss Leona M. Peirce." (Obituary) New York Times, Sept 29, 1954.
  • "Leona May Peirce." (Obituary) Smith Alumnae Quarterly, Fall 1964, 63.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Peirce, Leona May
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH 4th August 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Norway (Maine)
DATE OF DEATH September 24, 1954
Place of death Springfield, Massachusetts