Irene Ann Stegun (February 9, 1919 – January 27, 2008)
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 ...
at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS, now the
National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...
) who edited a classic book of
mathematical tables called ''A Handbook of Mathematical Functions'', widely known as ''
Abramowitz and Stegun
''Abramowitz and Stegun'' (''AS'') is the informal name of a 1964 mathematical reference work edited by Milton Abramowitz and Irene Stegun of the United States National Bureau of Standards (NBS), now the ''National Institute of Standards and Te ...
''.
Early life and education
Stegun was born in
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...
,
the daughter of Richard Stegun and Regina Skakandi Stegun. Her parents were both immigrants from central Europe. Her father owned a restaurant. She trained as a teacher, and later completed a master's degree in mathematics at
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 ...
.
Career
Stegun began her mathematical career during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. After teaching mathematics at a Catholic school in New York, she joined the Planning Committee of the
Mathematical Tables Project The Mathematical Tables Project was one of the largest and most sophisticated computing organizations that operated prior to the invention of the digital electronic computer. Begun in the United States in 1938 as a project of the Works Progress Admi ...
of the
WPA
WPA may refer to:
Computing
*Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard
*Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing
* Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada
* Windows Performance An ...
. In that role, she learned the basics of
numerical analysis
Numerical analysis is the study of algorithms that use numerical approximation (as opposed to symbolic computation, symbolic manipulations) for the problems of mathematical analysis (as distinguished from discrete mathematics). It is the study of ...
from the committee's chair,
Gertrude Blanch
Gertrude Blanch (2 February 1897, in Kolno, Russian Empire (now Poland) – 1 January 1996) was an American mathematician who did pioneering work in numerical analysis and computation. She was a leader of the Mathematical Tables Project in New Yo ...
. While working at the Mathematics Tables Project, she completed her master's degree at Columbia.
In 1948, Stegun and a handful of other members of the Mathematical Tables Project moved to Washington, D.C., where they set up the Computation Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards. She eventually rose to assistant chief of the Computation Laboratory at NBS. In 1965, Stegun was awarded a Gold Medal from the
Department of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bu ...
for her efforts in completing the project. She held the position of assistant chief of the Computing Lab until she became the interim director in 1965.
Publications
Stegun and
Milton Abramowitz
Milton Abramowitz (19 February 1915 in Brooklyn, New York – 5 July 1958) was a Jewish American mathematician at the National Bureau of Standards who, with Irene Stegun, edited a classic book of mathematical tables called '' Handbook of Mathemati ...
co-edited a book of mathematical tables called ''A Handbook of Mathematical Functions'' (1964). The handbook is considered a classic, "a major cooperative endeavor" and "one of the very few scientific activities of the 1950s led by a woman."
The pair also wrote articles for academic journals including ''
Physical Review
''Physical Review'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal established in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research as well as scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the American Physical S ...
,''
''
Journal of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
The ''SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in applied mathematics published by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), with Paul A. Martin (Colorado School of Mines) as its editor-in-chief. ...
,''
and ''
Mathematics of Computation
''Mathematics of Computation'' is a bimonthly mathematics journal focused on computational mathematics. It was established in 1943 as ''Mathematical Tables and other Aids to Computation'', obtaining its current name in 1960. Articles older than fi ...
.''
Abramowitz died in 1958, before their book was published.
With other co-authors, she also had publications in the ''
Journal of Applied Physics
The ''Journal of Applied Physics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal with a focus on the physics of modern technology. The journal was originally established in 1931 under the name of ''Physics'', and was published by the American Physical So ...
''
and the ''
Journal of Research of the National Bureau of Standards
The ''Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology'' is the flagship peer-reviewed scientific journal of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It has been published since 1904. Its former name was ''Jour ...
''.
* "Generation of Coulomb Wave Functions by Means of Recurrence Relations" (1955, with Milton Abramowitz)
* "Pitfalls in Computation" (1956, with Milton Abramowitz)
* "Generation of Bessel Functions on High Speed Computers" (1957, with Milton Abramowitz)
* "Ferroelectric Switching and the Sievert Integral" (1963, with P. H. Fang)
* "Automatic computing methods for special functions" (1970, with Ruth Zucker)
[Stegun, Irene A., and Ruth Zucker]
"Automatic computing methods for special functions."
''J. Res. Nat. Bur. Standards B'' 74 (1970): 211-224.
* "Automatic computing methods for special functions. Part II. The exponential integral En (x)" (1974, with Ruth Zucker)
* "Automatic computing methods for special functions. Part III. The sine, cosine, exponential integrals, and related functions" (1976, with Ruth Zucker)
* "Automatic Computing Methods for Special Functions. Part IV. Complex Error Function, Fresnel Integrals, and Other Related Functions" (1981, with Ruth Zucker)
Death
Stegun died in 2008, at the age of 88, in
Danbury, Connecticut
Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut.
Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...
.
See also
*
Timeline of women in science
This is a timeline of women in science, spanning from ancient history up to the 21st century. While the timeline primarily focuses on women involved with natural sciences such as astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics, it also includes women f ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stegun, Irene
People from Yonkers, New York
20th-century American mathematicians
Numerical analysts
1919 births
2008 deaths
Department of Commerce Gold Medal
20th-century American women scientists
20th-century American scientists
20th-century women mathematicians
Mathematicians from New York (state)
21st-century American women