Edna Ernestine Kramer Lassar (May 11, 1902 – July 9, 1984), born Edna Ernestine Kramer, was an American

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 ...

and author of mathematics books. Kramer was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

to Jewish immigrants. She earned her

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

''summa cum laude'' in mathematics from

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

in 1922. While teaching at local high schools, she earned her

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in 1925 and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 1930 in mathematics (with a minor in physics) from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

with

Edward Kasner Edward Kasner (April 2, 1878 – January 7, 1955) was an American mathematician who was appointed Tutor on Mathematics in the Columbia University Mathematics Department. Kasner was the first Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ...

as her advisor. She wrote ''The Nature and Growth of Modern Mathematics'', ''A First Course in Educational Statistics,'' ''Mathematics Takes Wings: An Aviation Supplement to Secondary Mathematics'', and ''The Main Stream of Mathematics''. Kramer married the French teacher Benedict Taxier Lassar on July 2, 1935. Kramer-Lassar died at the age of 82 in

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

Works

* ''The Main Stream of Mathematics'' (1951) * ''The Nature and Growth of Modern Mathematics'' (1970)

References

External links

Biography from Agnes Scott College

* Biography on p. 335-337 of th
Supplementary Material
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AMS
1902 births 1984 deaths Hunter College alumni Columbia University alumni People from Manhattan 20th-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Neurological disease deaths in New York (state) Deaths from Parkinson's disease 20th-century women mathematicians Mathematicians from New York (state) 20th-century American women {{US-mathematician-stub