Geraldine Claudette Darden (born July 22, 1936) is an American mathematician. She was the fourteenth African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics.

Early life and education

Darden was born in

Nansemond County, Virginia Nansemond is an extinct jurisdiction that was located south of the James River in Virginia Colony and in the Commonwealth of Virginia (after statehood) in the United States, from 1646 until 1974. It was known as Nansemond County until 1972. Fr ...

. Darden earned a bachelor's degrees in mathematics in 1957 from the

Hampton Institute Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missiona ...

, a historically black institute, and took a teaching position at S.H. Clarke Junior High School in

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. It lies across the Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth River from Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

. In the summer of 1958, Darden saw an opportunity for aspiring mathematicians created by the launch of Russian satellite

Sputnik Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space progra ...

and ensuing US interest in mathematics and science a year earlier, and she applied for and received a

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

grant to attend the Summer Institute in Mathematics held at

North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliati ...

. Here she met

Marjorie Lee Browne Marjorie Lee Browne (September 9, 1914 – October 19, 1979) was a mathematics educator. She was one of the first African-American women to receive a PhD in mathematics. Early life and education She attended Howard University, majoring in mat ...

, the mathematician who directed the institute, who would encourage Darden to go on to graduate school. Darden earned a master's degree in 1960 at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

, and a second master's degree in 1965 and Ph.D. in 1967 from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

. Her dissertation was completed under the supervision of James Reid, "On the Direct Sums of Cyclic Groups".

Contributions

In addition to teaching, Darden also co-wrote ''Selected Papers on Pre-calculus'', with textbook author Tom Apostol, Gulbank D. Chakerian, and John D. Neff.

References

External links

Photograph of Geraldine Claudette Darden
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darden, Geraldine Claudette 1936 births Living people 20th-century American mathematicians African-American mathematicians People from Suffolk, Virginia Hampton University alumni Syracuse University alumni African-American schoolteachers Schoolteachers from Virginia 20th-century American educators 20th-century American women educators 20th-century American women mathematicians Mathematicians from Virginia 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American educators 21st-century American educators 21st-century American women educators 21st-century African-American educators 21st-century African-American women University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni

Early life and education

Contributions

References

Further reading

External links