Teresa Cohen

Teresa Cohen (born February 14, 1892 in Baltimore , Maryland , † August 10, 1992 ) was an American mathematician and university professor . She was among the first women in the United States to earn a PhD in mathematics .

life and work

Cohen was born to Rebecca Sinsheimer (1856-1938) and Benjamin Cohen (1855-1940). After attending the Friends School-Baltimore , she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and physics from Goucher College in 1912 . In 1915 she earned a Master of Arts at Johns Hopkins University , where she received her doctorate in 1918 with Frank Morley with the thesis "Investigations of the plane quartic" . After receiving her doctorate, she taught at the Johns Hopkins Summer School from 1918 to 1920. In 1920 she was the first woman invited to the Mathematics Department at Pennsylvania State University . In 1921 she was promoted to assistant professor, in 1939 to associate professor and in 1945 as one of the few women to be promoted to full professor. She officially retired in 1962, but maintained an office in the Mathematics Faculty and taught students for free until 1985. An accident forced her to move to a nursing home in her hometown of Baltimore. At the time of her death, Cohen was the oldest surviving graduate of Goucher College and a member of the Mathematical Association of America . The Teresa Cohen Tutorial Endowment Fund at Pennsylvania State University was established in her honor. In 1987, the department established the Teresa Cohen Tutorial Endowment Fund to sponsor a student tutoring program that became known as the Sperling-Cohen Program in 1991. She was a member of the American Mathematical Society , Pi Mu Epsilon, and Sigma Delta Epsilon , the national honor society for women in science. She was a founding member of the Penn State Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Cohen, Teresa
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH	February 14, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH	Baltimore
DATE OF DEATH	August 10, 1992