Emily Kathryn Wyant (January 16, 1897 – July 16, 1942) was an American mathematician known as the founder of

Kappa Mu Epsilon Kappa Mu Epsilon () is an American mathematics honor society. It was founded by Emily Kathryn Wyant in 1931 at Northeastern Oklahoma State Teachers College to focus on the needs of undergraduate mathematics students. There are now over 80,000 ...

, a mathematical

honor society In the United States, an honor society is an organization that recognizes individuals who rank above a set standard in various domains such as academics, leadership, and other personal achievements, not all of which are based on ranking systems. ...

focusing on undergraduate education.

Early life

Wyant was born on January 16, 1897, in

Ipava, Illinois Ipava is a village in Fulton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 447 at the 2020 census. Geography Ipava is located in southern Fulton County. U.S. Route 136 passes through the village, leading east to Havana on the Illinois Ri ...

. Her father was a student in Illinois and later a shopkeeper in

Bolivar, Missouri Bolivar is a city and county seat of Polk County, Missouri, United States. The city derives its name in-part from the South American revolutionary Simón Bolívar. According to the 2020 United States Census, Bolivar had a population of 10,772. ...

, where she graduated from high school in 1914. She attended the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

on a part-time and summer basis while supporting herself as a school teacher, finally completing a bachelor's degree in education in 1921. She became a mathematics instructor at Missouri while continuing her education there. She earned a master's degree in physics in 1922, with a minor in mathematics, and completed her Ph.D. in 1929. Her dissertation, ''The Ideals in the Algebra of Generalized Quaternions over the Field of Rational Numbers'', concerned

algebraic number theory Algebraic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses the techniques of abstract algebra to study the integers, rational numbers, and their generalizations. Number-theoretic questions are expressed in terms of properties of algebraic ob ...

and was supervised by George E. Wahlin. As part of her doctoral studies, she also minored in astronomy.

Career

In 1930, Wyant took a position at the Northeastern State Teachers College in

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; , ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as p ...

, as a professor of mathematics. In 1933, she left Northeastern State to become a postdoctoral researcher at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. In 1934, she took another faculty position, as head of the mathematics department at

Athens College Athens College (; formally Hellenic-American Educational Foundation (HAEF), Ελληνο-Αμερικανικό Εκπαιδευτικό Ίδρυμα) is a co-educational private preparatory school in Psychiko, Greece, a suburb of Athens, par ...

Athens, Alabama Athens is a city in and the county seat of Limestone County, in the U.S. state of Alabama; it is included in the Huntsville-Decatur-Albertville, AL Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city is 25,406. Hist ...

. She became head of the mathematics department there but took an early retirement in 1940 due to poor health. Wyant was active in the mathematical honor society

Pi Mu Epsilon Pi Mu Epsilon ( or PME) is the U.S. honorary national mathematics society. The society currently has chapters at 371 institutions across the U.S. History Pi Mu Epsilon was founded at Syracuse University on , by Professor Edward Drake Roe, Jr. Pi ...

, in the mathematical graduate student sorority

Sigma Delta Epsilon Graduate Women in Science (GWIS), formerly known as Sigma Delta Epsilon (ΣΔΕ), is an international professional organization for women in science. It was established as a scientific women's fraternity in 1921 at Cornell University, United State ...

, and in the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary edu ...

. She became the national president of Sigma Delta Epsilon in 1926 and chaired the Missouri section of the

in 1927, as its first female officer. During Wyant's time at Northeastern, she worked to transform the local mathematics club, founded three years before her arrival, into another national honor society,

. The society itself was officially founded in April 1931, and Wyant was elected as its first leader, under the title "President Pythagoras". Through Wyant's efforts in making connections with faculty at other colleges and universities, the group quickly spread. She was succeeded in 1935 by the group's second president, J. A. G. Shirk of

Pittsburg State University Pittsburg State University (Pitt State or PSU) is a public university in Pittsburg, Kansas, United States. It enrolls approximately 7,400 students (6,000 undergraduates and 1,400 graduate students) and is a member of the Kansas Board of Regen ...

. Later, she became the society historian, and despite her failing health, she traveled with a nurse to the group's national convention in Missouri in 1941.

Personal life

She died on July 16, 1942.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyant, Emily Kathryn 1897 births 1942 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians Mathematicians from Missouri University of Missouri alumni University of Missouri faculty Northeastern State University faculty 20th-century American women mathematicians College honor society founders Graduate Women in Science members