Laura Guggenbühl

Laura Guggenbühl (November 18, 1901 – March 8, 1985) was an American mathematician, one of the earliest women in the U.S. to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, known for her work in triangle geometry and the history of mathematics.[1]

Guggenbühl was born in New York City, to a family of Swiss immigrants; her father, a butcher and baker, died by 1920. She graduated from Hunter College in 1922 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, after also taking some classes at Columbia University and New York University. She became an instructor at Hunter College while earning a master's degree and Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College in 1924 and 1926 respectively.[1] Her dissertation, supervised by Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler, was An Integral Equation with an Associated Integral Condition.[2] She became a regular-rank faculty member at Hunter College in 1932 and retired from there as an associate professor in 1972.[1]

Although not active in research mathematics after her doctorate, Guggenbühl represented Hunter College at many offerings of the International Congress of Mathematicians. She also published several works on the history of mathematics, including biographies of Henri Brocard and Karl Wilhelm Feuerbach, on elementary geometry including triangle geometry, and on the Rhind mathematical papyrus.[1]

She died on a round-the-world cruise, shortly after leaving Hong Kong, after being overcome with grief at the recent death of her brother.[1]

Works

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Green, Judy; LaDuke, Jeanne (April 17, 2009), Supplementary Material For Pioneering Women In American Mathematics: The Pre-1940 PhD's (PDF), American Mathematical Society
  2. ↑ Laura Guggenbühl at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
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