Grace Elizabeth Bates (13 August 1914 – 19 November 1996) was an American mathematician and one of few women in the United States to be granted a Ph.D. in mathematics in the 1940s. She became an emeritus professor at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

. Bates specialized in algebra and probability theory, and she co-authored two textbooks: ''The Real Number System'' and ''Modern Algebra, Second Course''. Throughout her own education, Bates overcame obstructions to her pursuit of knowledge, opening the way for future women learners.

Early life and education

She was born on 13 August 1914. Interested in mathematics from a very young age, Bates was encouraged to pursue her interest by her family. Bates maintained a close relationship with her brother, reinforced by the early death of their mother. Upon completing high school, her brother used his salary to help her continue her education through high school and college. During her studies, Bates petitioned several times to take more advanced math courses than were typically available to female students. She attended the

Cazenovia Seminary Cazenovia College is a private college in Cazenovia, New York. Founded as the Genesee Seminary in 1824 and sponsored by the Methodist Church, in 1894 the college adopted the name of Cazenovia Seminary. It was reorganized in 1942 after church spon ...

for high school, where she petitioned to take intermediate algebra. She pursued her undergraduate studies at

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

, which was segregated by sex at this time. For her senior year, Bates petitioned to take differential equations, which was only offered to male students. After completing her B.S. in mathematics in 1935, she continued in her studies to obtain a master's degree from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1938. Bates entered her doctoral program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1944. Initially interested in geometry, Bates instead decided to pursue algebra and work under

Reinhold Baer Reinhold Baer (22 July 1902 – 22 October 1979) was a German mathematician, known for his work in algebra. He introduced injective modules in 1940. He is the eponym of Baer rings and Baer groups. Biography Baer studied mechanical engineering f ...

. She completed her doctoral thesis, titled " Free Loops and Nets and their Generalizations", in 1946.

Professional life and continuing education

Bates taught briefly at

Sweet Briar College Sweet Briar College is a private women's college in Sweet Briar, Virginia. It was established in 1901 by Indiana Fletcher Williams in memory of her deceased daughter, Daisy. The college formally opened its doors in 1906 and granted the B.A. deg ...

before joining the faculty of

. After discussing her interest in probability and statistics with colleague Antoni Zygmund, Zygmund referred her to Jerzy Neyman at the University of California, Berkeley. Consequently, Bates obtained an assistantship at the Berkeley Statistical Laboratory and spend several summers working with Neyman in the 1950s. Together they wrote a number of research articles on probability theory. Bates advanced to become a full and emeritus professor at Mount Holyoke College and taught until her retirement in 1979. She died on 19 November 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Grace 1914 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians Brown University alumni Middlebury College alumni Mount Holyoke College faculty University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni American women mathematicians 20th-century women mathematicians 20th-century American women