Pauline Sperry
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Pauline Sperry (March 5, 1885 – September 24, 1967) was an American mathematician. Biography on p. 571-574 of th
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Early life and education

Born in
Peabody, Massachusetts Peabody () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 54,481 at the time of the 2020 United States census. Peabody is located in the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore region of Massachusetts, and is known ...
, Sperry was the daughter of two schoolteachers; her father, William Gardner Sperry, was also a
Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...
minister and later became president of
Olivet College The University of Olivet, formerly known as Olivet College, is a private Christian college in Olivet, Michigan, United States. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. It was founded in 1844 by missionaries from Oberlin Coll ...
. Perry began her own undergraduate studies at Olivet College, but then moved to
Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...
. She graduated from Smith in 1906 at age 21 and was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
. After teaching at a private school, she returned to Smith in 1907 to do graduate work in mathematics and music, and earned a master's degree in music in 1908. She continued on as a teacher at Smith until 1912, remaining affiliated with Smith as a traveling fellow into 1913. Sperry began studying 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 1913 and earned a master's degree in mathematics in 1914. Under the guidance of
Ernest Julius Wilczynski Ernest Julius Wilczynski (November 13, 1876 – September 14, 1932) was an American mathematician considered the founder of projective differential geometry. Born in Hamburg, Germany, Wilczynski's family emigrated to America and settled in Chicag ...
, her doctoral thesis, "Properties of a certain projectively defined two-parameter family of curves on a general surface", drew on his work as the founder of the American school of
projective differential geometry In mathematics, projective differential geometry is the study of differential geometry, from the point of view of properties of mathematical objects such as functions, diffeomorphisms, and submanifolds, that are invariant under transformations of ...
. She earned her PhD in mathematics and astronomy in 1916 and was elected to the
Sigma Xi Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is an international non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a faculty member and graduate students in 1886 and is one of the oldest ...
honor society.


Later career

After a year teaching again at Smith, Sperry spent the rest of her academic career at the
University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
, beginning in 1917. When she was promoted to assistant professor in 1923, she became the first female tenure-track mathematics faculty member at the university. Her students at Berkeley included Raymundo Favila. At the height of
McCarthyism McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...
, the
Board of Regents In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual co ...
required university employees to sign a
loyalty oath Loyalty is a Fixation (psychology), devotion to a country, philosophy, group, or person. Philosophers disagree on what can be an object of loyalty, as some argue that loyalty is strictly interpersonal and only another human being can be the obj ...
. Sperry,
Hans Lewy Hans Lewy (20 October 1904 – 23 August 1988) was an American mathematician, known for his work on partial differential equations and on the theory of functions of several complex variables. Life Lewy was born to a Jewish family in Breslau, S ...
, and others who refused were barred from teaching without pay in 1950. In the case '' Tolman v. Underhill'', the
California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...
ruled in 1952 the loyalty oath unconstitutional and reinstated those who refused to sign.. Sperry was reinstated with the title emeritus associate professor and later awarded back pay.


Personal life

Sperry was an active
Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...
and involved in various humanitarian and political causes.


References


Further reading

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sperry, Pauline 1885 births 1967 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American Quakers Converts to Quakerism Smith College alumni Smith College faculty University of Chicago alumni University of Chicago faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American women mathematicians