Jean J. Pedersen (Sep 17, 1934–Jan 1, 2016) was an American mathematician and author particularly known for her works on the

mathematics of paper folding The discipline of origami or paper folding has received a considerable amount of mathematical study. Fields of interest include a given paper model's flat-foldability (whether the model can be flattened without damaging it), and the use of paper f ...

Education and career

Pedersen was born in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, the daughter of an ophthalmologist and a teacher. She studied

home economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...

changing to a double major in mathematics and

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

as an undergraduate at

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

, before becoming a graduate student in mathematics at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

under the supervision of E. Allen Davis. After completing her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

, she moved to

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

, following her husband who worked for IBM. She joined the faculty at the Santa Clara University on a part-time basis in 1966, but shifted to full-time and was promoted to full professor in 1996. She was the first woman to teach mathematics at the university, and the first to be tenured as a mathematics professor. Her discovery that the

platonic solids In geometry, a Platonic solid is a convex, regular polyhedron in three-dimensional Euclidean space. Being a regular polyhedron means that the faces are congruent (identical in shape and size) regular polygons (all angles congruent and all edges c ...

could be braided from strips of paper led to

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lew ...

writing about it in the September, 1971

Mathematical Games column Over a period of 24 years (January 1957 – December 1980), Martin Gardner wrote 288 consecutive monthly "Mathematical Games" columns for ''Scientific American'' magazine. During the next years, through June 1986, Gardner wrote 9 more columns, ...

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it ...

.Plaited Platonic Puzzles
by Jean J. Pedersen, The

Two-Year College Mathematics Journal The ''College Mathematics Journal'' is an expository magazine aimed at teachers of college mathematics, particular those teaching the first two years. It is published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Mathematical Association of America and is ...

, vol. 4, no. 3, 1973, pp 22-37

Books

Pedersen's books include: *''Geometric Playthings'' (With Kent Pedersen, Dale Seymour Publications Secondary, 1973, ) *''Fear No More: An Adult Approach to Mathematics'' (with

Peter Hilton Peter John Hilton (7 April 1923Peter Hilton, "On all Sorts of Automorphisms", '' The American Mathematical Monthly'', 92(9), November 1985, p. 6506 November 2010) was a British mathematician, noted for his contributions to homotopy theory and ...

, Dale Seymour Publications, 1982 ) *''Build Your Own Polyhedra'' (with

, Addison-Wesley, 1988) *''Mathematical Reflections: In a Room with Many Windows'' (with

and Derek Holton, Springer, 1996) *''Mathematical Vistas: From a Room with Many Windows'' (with

and Derek Holton, Springerl 2002) *'' 99 Points of Intersection: Examples—Pictures—Proofs'' (by Hans Walser, translated with Peter Hilton, Mathematical Association of America, 2006) *''A Mathematical Tapestry: Demonstrating the Beautiful Unity of Mathematics'' (with

, illustrated by Sylvie Donmoyer, Cambridge University Press, 2010) She and

also translated ''The Golden Section'' and ''Symmetry'' by Hans Walser from German into English. Both translations were published by the Mathematical Association of America in 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedersen, Jean 1934 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians 21st-century American mathematicians Mathematics popularizers American women mathematicians Brigham Young University alumni University of Utah alumni Santa Clara University faculty 20th-century women mathematicians 21st-century women mathematicians Mathematicians from Utah Scientists from Salt Lake City 21st-century American women