Edna Ernestine Kramer Lassar (May 11, 1902 – July 9, 1984), born Edna Ernestine Kramer, 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 author of mathematics books. Kramer was born in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

to Jewish immigrants. She earned her

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

''summa cum laude'' in mathematics from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

in 1922. While teaching at local high schools, she earned her

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 1925 and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1930 in mathematics (with a minor in physics) from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

with

Edward Kasner Edward Kasner (April 2, 1878 – January 7, 1955) was an American mathematician who was appointed Tutor on Mathematics in the Columbia University Mathematics Department. Kasner was the first Jewish person appointed to a faculty position in ...

as her advisor. She wrote ''The Nature and Growth of Modern Mathematics'', ''A First Course in Educational Statistics,'' ''Mathematics Takes Wings: An Aviation Supplement to Secondary Mathematics'', and ''The Main Stream of Mathematics''. Kramer married the French teacher Benedict Taxier Lassar on July 2, 1935. Kramer-Lassar died at the age of 82 in

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

Works

* ''The Main Stream of Mathematics'' (1951) * ''The Nature and Growth of Modern Mathematics'' (1970)

References

External links

Biography from Agnes Scott College

* Biography on p. 335-337 of th
Supplementary Material
a
AMS
1902 births 1984 deaths Hunter College alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni People from Manhattan 20th-century American mathematicians Deaths from Parkinson's disease in New York (state) 20th-century American women mathematicians Mathematicians from New York (state) {{US-mathematician-stub