Jane Smiley Cronin Scanlon (July 17, 1922 – June 19, 2018) was an American mathematician and an emeritus professor of mathematics at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

. Her research concerned

partial differential equation In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a Multivariable calculus, multivariable function. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be sol ...

s and

mathematical biology Mathematical and theoretical biology, or biomathematics, is a branch of biology which employs theoretical analysis, mathematical models and abstractions of the living organisms to investigate the principles that govern the structure, development a ...

...

Education and career

Scanlon earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Wayne University (now

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

). She completed her Ph.D. in mathematics at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1949, under the supervision of

Erich Rothe Erich Hans Rothe (July 21, 1895, Berlin – February 19, 1988, Ann Arbor, Michigan) was a German-born American mathematician, who did research in mathematical analysis, differential equations, integral equations, and mathematical physics. He is kn ...

. Her dissertation was ''Branch Points of Solutions of Equations in Banach Space''. After working for the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

and the American Optical Company, she returned to academia as a lecturer at

Wheaton College (Massachusetts) Wheaton College is a private liberal arts college in Norton, Massachusetts. Wheaton was founded in 1834 as a female seminary. The trustees officially changed the name of the Wheaton Female Seminary to Wheaton College in 1912 after receiving a ...

and then

Stonehill College Stonehill College is a Private college, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1948 by the Congregation of Holy Cross and is located on ...

. She moved to the

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn The New York University Tandon School of Engineering (commonly referred to as Tandon) is the engineering and applied sciences school of New York University. Tandon is the second oldest private engineering and technology school in the United Sta ...

in 1957, and to Rutgers in 1965. In 1974 Scanlon was elected as an

AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions * A ...

Member at Large and held the position until 1976. She retired in 1991. During her twenty-six years at Rutgers, she supervised seven doctoral students. She died in June 2018 at the age of 95.Obituary for Dr. Jane Cronin Scanlon
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Recognition

Scanlon was a

Noether Lecture The Noether Lecture is a distinguished lecture series that honors women "who have made fundamental and sustained contributions to the mathematical sciences". The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM) established the annual lectures in 1980 as t ...

r in 1985, and Pi Mu Epsilon J. Sutherland Frame Lecturer in 1989.J. Sutherland Frame Lectures
Pi Mu Epsilon Her talks concerned " entrainment of frequency" and the application of this principle to mathematical models of the Purkinje fibers in the

heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

. In 2012, she became one of the inaugural

fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

s of the

American Mathematical Society The American Mathematical Society (AMS) is an association of professional mathematicians dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship, and serves the national and international community through its publications, meetings, ...

Personal life

She married the physicist Joseph Scanlon in 1953. The two divorced in 1979. Upon her death, she was survived by four children and seven grandchildren.

Selected publications

Articles

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Books

* ''Advanced Calculus'', Boston, Heath 1967 * ''Differential equations: Introduction and Qualitative Theory'', Dekker 1980, 2nd edition 1994
3rd edition CRC/Chapman and Hall 2008
ref> * ''Fixed points and topological degrees in nonlinear analysis'', American Mathematical Society 1964
1995 pbk edition of 1972 reprint with corrections

''Mathematical aspects of the Hodgkin-Huxley neural theory''
Cambridge University Press 1987
''Mathematics of Cell Electrophysiology''
Dekker 1981

as editor

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scanlon, Jane Cronin 1922 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Wayne State University alumni University of Michigan alumni Wheaton College (Massachusetts) faculty Rutgers University faculty Fellows of the American Mathematical Society 20th-century women mathematicians 20th-century American women United States Air Force civilians 21st-century American women Educators from Manhattan