Miriam Freda Becker (later Miriam Mazur, March 30, 1909 – March 5, 2000) was an American mathematician whose career became a test case for

unionization Unionization is the creation and growth of modern trade unions. Trade unions were often seen as a Left-wing politics, left-wing, Socialism, socialist concept, whose popularity has increased during the 19th century when a rise in industrial capit ...

and

academic tenure Tenure is a type of academic appointment that protects its holder from being fired or laid off except for Just cause (employment law), cause, or under extraordinary circumstances such as financial exigency or program discontinuation. Academic ten ...

in the

City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

system in the 1930s.

Early life and education

Becker was the middle of three children of an immigrant family; her mother came from Russia and her father, an insurance salesman, from Austria. She majored in mathematics at

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 the City University of New York system, graduating in 1930, earned a master's degree there in 1932, and became a doctoral student at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. She completed her Ph.D. in 1934 under the supervision of

Øystein Ore Øystein Ore (7 October 1899 – 13 August 1968) was a Norwegian mathematician known for his work in ring theory, Galois connections, graph theory, and the history of mathematics. Life Ore graduated from the University of Oslo in 1922, with a ...

, with the dissertation ''On Relative Fields''.

Contract dispute

She became a tutor at Hunter College in 1934, on a year-by-year teaching contract. In 1937, the college decided not to renew her tutor position, replacing her with Annita Tuller. This dismissal became the subject of a legal battle between the

Teachers Union The New York City Teachers Union or "TU" (1916–1964) was the first New York labor union for teachers, formed as "AFT Local 5" of the American Federation of Teachers, which found itself hounded throughout its history due largely to co-membership ...

of New York and the Board of Higher Education of New York City, with the Teachers Union contending that a 1935 law for high school teachers (under which someone who had been teaching for three years could only be fired for cause) should also apply to City University faculty, and the Board of Higher Education instead preferring a more standard academic tenure review process that did not become automatic after such a short time. The board refused to review her case, in November 1937; a month later, the court decided that she should be reinstated, but by early 1938 the Court of Appeals reversed that ruling and she was not reinstated.

Later life

After postdoctoral research at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

, based on research she had done at Yale with

Saunders Mac Lane Saunders Mac Lane (August 4, 1909 – April 14, 2005), born Leslie Saunders MacLane, was an American mathematician who co-founded category theory with Samuel Eilenberg. Early life and education Mac Lane was born in Norwich, Connecticut, near w ...

, Becker became a high school teacher in Manhattan and later the Bronx. In 1940 she married biochemist Abraham Mazur, and soon after she stopped teaching to raise her two children. She returned to high school teaching in 1954. In 1964 she returned to the City University of New York as an assistant professor of mathematics at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

; she was tenured as an associate professor in 1972, and retired in 1977. She died on March 5, 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Miriam 1909 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American women mathematicians Hunter College alumni Yale University alumni Hunter College faculty City College of New York faculty 20th-century American women academics 20th-century American academics