Edith Linwood Bush (September 15, 1882 – November 3, 1977) was an American mathematician. She was the high school mathematics teacher of her younger brother,

Vannevar Bush Vannevar Bush ( ; March 11, 1890 – June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all wartime ...

, before becoming dean of the Jackson College for Women at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

and the first woman to teach engineering at Tufts.

Life

Bush was born on September 15, 1882 in

Everett, Massachusetts Everett is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, directly north of Boston, bordering the neighborhood of Charlestown. The population was 49,075 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. Everett was the last city in the Un ...

, one of three children of Universalist minister R. Perry Bush and his wife, née Emma Linwood Paine. She grew up in

Chelsea, Massachusetts Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. As of the 2020 census, Chelsea had a population of 40,787. With a total area of just 2.46 s ...

, and graduated from Tufts University in 1903 as a member of

Chi Omega Chi Omega (, also known as ChiO) is a women's fraternity and a member of the National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization of 26 women's fraternities. Chi Omega has 181 active collegiate chapters and approximately 240 alumnae chapte ...

and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

. She became the head mathematics teacher at Chelsea High School from 1906 to 1918, becoming the mathematics teacher of her younger brother,

. She briefly became principal of Provincetown High School before returning to Tufts in 1920, where she became a mathematics instructor. In 1922, she became an assistant professor at Tufts, the first female faculty member to teach in the School of Engineering. She was named dean of the Jackson College for Women in 1925, and in the same year became a full professor. She retired in 1952, and was succeeded as dean by biologist Katherine Jeffers. On her retirement she returned to

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...

, where she lived in a house built by her grandfather, Captain Lysander N. Paine. She died on November 3, 1977 in

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, th ...

Recognition

Tufts University gave Bush an honorary doctorate in 1942. In 1959, a new student residence at Tufts was named Bush Hall in her honor. It was originally an undergraduate women's dormitory, but by 1991 was occupied only by graduate students. After major renovation in 1995, it again became an undergraduate dormitory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bush, Edith 1882 births 1977 deaths People from Everett, Massachusetts 20th-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Tufts University alumni Tufts University faculty 20th-century American women