Frances Harshbarger (16 August 1902, Quimby, Iowa – 11 February 1987,

Cuyahoga Falls Cuyahoga Falls ( or ) is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 51,114 at the 2020 census. The second-largest city in Summit County, it is located directly north of Akron and is a suburb in the Akron metropolitan area ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

) was an American mathematician.

Education

She obtained 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 ...

with honors in 1923 at

Grinnell College Grinnell College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalis ...

, and went to

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

to serve as a half-time teacher and simultaneously work on her mathematics graduation; in 1925 she finished 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 ...

After that she became head of the mathematics department of Potomac State College in

Keyser, West Virginia Keyser () is a city in and the county seat of Mineral County, West Virginia, Mineral County, West Virginia. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,853 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. In 1927 to 1929, she was an assistant, in 1929 to 1930 a fellow, at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

. In 1930, she obtained her Ph.D. in mathematics with a thesis in algebraic geometry, advised by A. B. Coble. She was one of the first American women who obtained a mathematics Ph.D. degree. Biography on pp. 244 of th
Supplementary Material
a
AMS
/ref>

Career

Thereafter, she worked as a professor in the American College for Girls, the university section of

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( or ), often abbreviated as Robert or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational, Education in Turkey#Private schools, private Second ...

, in

Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over , it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in th ...

. She attended the 1932

International Congress of Mathematicians The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) is the largest conference for the topic of mathematics. It meets once every four years, hosted by the International Mathematical Union (IMU). The Fields Medals, the IMU Abacus Medal (known before ...

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

as an official delegate.Vol.1
of the Congress Proceedings, p. 10, 25 (= p. 18, 33 in the Pdf file) In 1934, she returned to the United States to teach at the high school associated with the University of Chicago. For the rest of her career, she served at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

in Ohio, as an appointed instructor since 1935, an assistant professor since 1936, an associate professor since 1942, and a professor since 1946, until she retired in 1972, as emeritus professor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harshbarger, Frances 20th-century American mathematicians 1902 births 1987 deaths West Virginia University alumni Grinnell College alumni West Virginia University faculty University of Illinois alumni Kent State University faculty People from Cherokee County, Iowa Mathematicians from Iowa Potomac State College of West Virginia University faculty 20th-century American women mathematicians