Virginia Halmos (1915–2015), born Virginia Pritchett, was an American philanthropist who supported mathematics research. She and her husband

Paul Halmos Paul Richard Halmos (; 3 March 1916 – 2 October 2006) was a Kingdom of Hungary, Hungarian-born United States, American mathematician and probabilist who made fundamental advances in the areas of mathematical logic, probability theory, operat ...

endowed the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

's Joseph L. Doob Prize for research exposition. They also made substantial gifts to 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 ...

. In particular, they endowed the Mathematical Association of America's

Euler Book Prize The Euler Book Prize is an award named after Swiss mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler (1707–1783) and given annually at the Joint Mathematics Meetings by the Mathematical Association of America to an outstanding book in mathematics that ...

, which was first given in 2007.. After her husband's death, Virginia Halmos donated funds to the Mathematical Association of America to support digitization of her husband's extensive archives. Virginia Halmos (then Pritchett) earned an undergraduate degree at

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

. She went to graduate school at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, where she studied logic. She left the graduate program in 1945 when she married Paul Halmos, but she maintained a strong interest in mathematics and the lives of mathematicians.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halmos, Virginia 1915 births 2015 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians Vassar College alumni