Christine Mary Hamill (24 July 1923 – 24 March 1956) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who specialised in

group theory In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as group (mathematics), groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as ring (mathematics), rings, field ...

and

finite geometry Finite is the opposite of infinite. It may refer to: * Finite number (disambiguation) * Finite set, a set whose cardinality (number of elements) is some natural number * Finite verb, a verb form that has a subject, usually being inflected or marked ...

Education

Hamill was one of the four children of English physiologist Philip Hamill. She attended

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is an independent day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England. History St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part o ...

and the

Perse School for Girls The Stephen Perse Foundation is a family of independent schools in Cambridge and Saffron Walden for students aged 1 to 18. The Foundation is made up of 3 nurseries (2 in Cambridge and 1 in Saffron Walden, Essex) for ages 1–5, 2 Junior Schoo ...

. In 1942, she won a scholarship to

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sid ...

, becoming a wrangler in 1945. She won a Newnham research fellowship in 1948, and received her Ph.D. at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in 1951. Her dissertation, ''The Finite Primitive Collineation Groups which contain Homologies of Period Two'', concerned the

group-theoretic In abstract algebra, group theory studies the algebraic structures known as groups. The concept of a group is central to abstract algebra: other well-known algebraic structures, such as rings, fields, and vector spaces, can all be seen as g ...

properties of

collineation In projective geometry, a collineation is a one-to-one and onto map (a bijection) from one projective space to another, or from a projective space to itself, such that the images of collinear points are themselves collinear. A collineation is thu ...

s, geometric transformations preserving straight lines; she also published this material in three journal papers.

J. A. Todd John Arthur Todd (23 August 1908 – 22 December 1994) was an English mathematician who specialised in geometry. Biography He was born in Liverpool, and went up to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1925. He did research under H.F. Baker, and in ...

, who supervised her research work, observed that "the detailed results contained in her papers" were "of permanent value".

Career

After completing her doctorate, Hamill was appointed to a lectureship in the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

. In 1954, she was appointed lecturer in the

University College, Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 1962 ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. She died of

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

there in 1956, four months before she was to have married.

Notes

1923 births 1956 deaths 20th-century English mathematicians People educated at St Paul's Girls' School Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Sheffield Academic staff of the University of Ibadan Group theorists People educated at the Perse School for Girls Deaths from polio British geometers 20th-century women mathematicians English people with disabilities {{Mathematician-stub