Doris G. Skillman Stockton (1924–2018) was an American mathematician specializing in

partial differential equation In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a multivariable function. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be solved for, similarly to ...

s and

Banach space In mathematics, more specifically in functional analysis, a Banach space (pronounced ) is a complete normed vector space. Thus, a Banach space is a vector space with a metric that allows the computation of vector length and distance between ve ...

s, and known for her many mathematics textbooks. For many years she was a professor of mathematics at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

Education and career

Stockton entered the New Jersey College for Women at Rutgers in 1941. Initially planning to study dramatic arts, she was persuaded to switch to mathematics and physics so that she could more directly contribute to the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

efforts. She completed her Ph.D. at Brown University in 1958, with the dissertation ''Singular Parabolic Partial Differential Equations with Time Dependent Coefficients'', supervised by

Joanne Elliott Joanne Elliott (born December 5, 1925) is an American mathematician specializing in potential theory, who has been described as a "disciple" of her co-author, probability theorist William Feller. She is a professor emeritus of mathematics at R ...

. She joined the faculty at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

but, soon after, moved to the University of Massachusetts. After working for 52 years on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Stockton retired in 2006.

Personal life

Stockton was born on February 9, 1924, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She was married to Frederick D. Stockton (1920–2015), an associate professor of

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

at the University of Massachusetts. She died on December 13, 2018, in

Avon, Connecticut Avon ( ) is a town in the Farmington Valley region of Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 18,932. History Avon was settled in 1645 and was originally a part of neighboring Farmington. ...

Books

Stockton was the author of 11 textbooks and workbooks, including: *''Elements of Mathematics'' (2nd ed., with Helen Murray Roberts, 1956) *''Essential Mathematics'' (Scott & Foresman, 1972) *''Essential Algebra'' (1973) *''Essential Algebra with Functions'' (1973) *''Essential Algebra and Trigonometry'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1978) *''Essential Precalculus'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1978) *''Essential College Algebra'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1979)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stockton, Doris 1924 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Mathematics educators Rutgers University alumni Brown University alumni University of Connecticut faculty University of Massachusetts Amherst faculty 20th-century American women 21st-century American women