Charlotte Scott

Charlotte Angas Scott D.Sc.(Lond.) (8 June 1858 – 10 November 1931, Cambridge, England) was a British mathematician who made her career in the United States and was influential in the development of American mathematics, including the mathematical education of women.

Scott played an important role in Cambridge changing the rules for its famous Mathematical Tripos exam. In 1880, Scott obtained special permission to take the Tripos, as women were not normally allowed to sit for the exam. She came eighth on the Tripos of all students taking them, but due to her sex, the title of "eighth wrangler," a high honor, went officially to a male student.

At the ceremony, however, after the seventh wrangler had been announced, all the students in the audience shouted her name. After this incident women were allowed to formally take the exam and their exam scores listed, although separately from the men's and thus not included in the rankings. Women obtaining the necessary score also received a special certificate instead of the BA degree with honors.

Educated at Girton College, Cambridge from 1876 to 1880, she was then a Resident Lecturer in Mathematics there until 1884. In 1885 she was the first British woman to receive a doctoral degree.

Moving to the United States, she was Associate Professor of Mathematics at Bryn Mawr College from 1885, the year of the school's founding, to 1888 and Professor from 1888 to 1917. During this period she directed the Ph.D. theses of many pioneering women mathematicians. On retirement she returned to and settled in Cambridge.

She presented the silver challenge cup for Girton and Newnham Lawn Tennis Doubles in 1883.

In 1906 Scott served as Vice-President of the American Mathematical Society.
Publications

Scott, Charlotte A. (1894). Modern Analytical Geometry. Macmillan.

References

"Charlotte Angas Scott", Biographies of Women Mathematicians, Agnes Scott College
Judy Green, "How many women mathematicians can you name?" [1]
Kenschaft, Patricia C. Charlotte Angas Scott, 1858-1931. The College Mathematics Journal. 18:2: March 1987. pp. 98–110.
Girton College Register 1869-1946, University Press, Cambridge, 1948
"Women in Mathematics in the United States:1866-1900"

External links

"Charlotte Angas Scott", Biographies of Women Mathematicians, Agnes Scott College
Charlotte Scott at the Mathematics Genealogy Project