Dorothy Walcott Weeks (May 3, 1893 – June 4, 1990) was an American

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. Weeks was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. She earned degrees from

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

, the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, and

Simmons College Institutions of learning called Simmons College or Simmons University include: * Simmons University Simmons University (previously Simmons College) is a private university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1899 by ...

. Biography on p.621-626 of th
Supplementary Material
a
AMS
/ref> Weeks was the first woman to receive a PhD in mathematics from the

Early life

Dorothy Walcott Weeks was born on May 3, 1893, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, to Mary (nee Walcott) and Edward Mitchell Weeks, an engraver. Weeks was the second of three children, born after her older brother and before her younger sister Ruth. The family moved in 1900 from

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, where Weeks studied at Western High School.

Education

Weeks graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

with a physics degree from Wellesley College in 1916, where she was also an active member of the Shakespeare society. After graduation, Weeks went on to work as a teacher, a statistical clerk, and an assistant at the

National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sc ...

. In 1917 she became the third woman to work as a patent examiner at the

US Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...

. In 1920 Weeks worked as a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a master's degree in physics from that same institution in 1923. In 1924 she obtained a second master's degree, from the Prince School of Business at

, and became an employment supervisor for

Jordan Marsh Jordan Marsh was an American department store chain founded in 1841 by Eben Dyer Jordan and Benjamin L. Marsh. It was headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and operated throughout New England. The destruction of the historical flagship store o ...

, the

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

. But by 1928, she had returned to academia, teaching physics at

while working on her doctorate at the

. In 1930, Weeks completed a PhD in theoretical physics from the mathematics department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her dissertation work was guided by

Norbert Wiener Norbert Wiener (November 26, 1894 – March 18, 1964) was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and philosopher. He became a professor of mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT). A child prodigy, Wiener late ...

and published in the ''

Journal of Mathematics and Physics The journal ''Studies in Applied Mathematics'' is published by Wiley–Blackwell on behalf of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It features scholarly articles on mathematical applications in allied fields, notably computer science, ...

''.

Career

Following completion of graduate studies, Weeks developed and led the physics department at Wilson College in

Chambersburg, Pennsylvania Chambersburg is a borough in and the county seat of Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Franklin County, in the South Central Pennsylvania, South Central region of Pennsylvania, United States. It is in the Cumberland Valley, which is part of the Gre ...

, from 1930 to 1956. Weeks left Wilson on sabbatical from 1943 to 1945, when she worked as a technical aide at the

Office of Scientific Research and Development The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was an agency of the United States federal government created to coordinate scientific research for military purposes during World War II. Arrangements were made for its creation during May ...

. Later, in 1949–50, Weeks was a

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated d ...

at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at Wilson in the 1940s, Weeks organized six summer sessions in which undergraduate women traveled to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to work with George R. Harrison in the spectroscopy laboratory on compiling wavelength tables. Harrison referred to this as the "Charm School." Among the undergraduate students who participated was

Katherine Sopka Katherine Sopka (born Katherine J. Russell) was a science interviewer, physics professor and historian of physics. She is known for her interviews held with leading scientists, and for work on the history of quantum physics and the physics communit ...

. From 1956 through 1964, Weeks was a physicist at the

Watertown Arsenal The Watertown Arsenal was a major American arsenal located on the northern shore of the Charles River in Watertown, Massachusetts. The site is now registered on the American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE's List of Historic Civil Engineeri ...

and the technical representative for the Committee on Radioactive Shielding. In 1964, she worked for the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

supported Solar Satellite Project at the

Harvard College Observatory The Harvard College Observatory (HCO) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United St ...

. From 1966 to 1971 Weeks worked as a lecturer in physics at the

Newton College of the Sacred Heart Newton College of the Sacred Heart was a small Women's college, women's liberal arts college in Newton Centre, Massachusetts, Newton Centre, Massachusetts. It opened in and merged with Boston College in . The college was highly regarded during ...

. She would continue to work at Harvard as a spectroscopist, studying solar satellites at the Harvard College Observatory until she retired in 1976 at the age of eighty-three. Weeks died on June 4, 1990, at

Newton-Wellesley Hospital Newton-Wellesley Hospital (NWH) is a community teaching medical center located in Newton, Massachusetts on Washington Street. It is affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Founded in 1881, part of its ca ...

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...

, due to a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

Publications

* Dorothy W. Weeks, "Three Mathematical Methods of Analyzing Polarized Light," ''Journal of Mathematics and Physics'', Volume 13, Issue 4, (December 1934): 371-379. * Dorothy W. Weeks, "A study of sixteen coherency matrices," ''Journal of Mathematics and Physics'', Volume 13, Issue 4, (December 1934): 380-386. * Henry Norris Russell, Charlotte E. Moore, and Dorothy W. Weeks, "The Arc Spectrum of Iron (Fe 1)," Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, (1944). * Dorothy W. Weeks, " Central Pennsylvania Section," ''American Journal of Physics'', Volume 22, Number 3 (March 1954): 148-151. * Dorothy W. Weeks, " Central Pennsylvania Section," ''American Journal of Physics'', Volume 22, Number 6 (September 1954): 424-426. * Dorothy W. Weeks, " Women in Physics Today," ''

Physics Today ''Physics Today'' is the membership magazine of the American Institute of Physics. First published in May 1948, it is issued on a monthly schedule, and is provided to the members of ten physics societies, including the American Physical Society. ...

'', Volume 13, Issue 8, (1960): 22-23. * Dorothy W. Weeks, "Absorption Spectrum of Fe I in the Vacuum Ultraviolet," ''Astronomical Journal'', Volume 70 (1965): 696. * Dorothy W. Weeks, " Women in Physics," ''Physics Today'', Volume 40, Issue 6 (1987): 15.

References

External links

Oral history interview with Dorothy Weeks on 19 July 1978, Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics

Unpublished memoir "Fun on the Fringes" by Dorothy Walcott Weeks, 1988. Held by the Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weeks, Dorothy Walcott 20th-century American physicists American women physicists Wellesley College alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni 1893 births Simmons University alumni 1990 deaths American women mathematicians Mathematicians from Philadelphia Harvard College Observatory people 20th-century American women Newton College of the Sacred Heart faculty