Marion Elizabeth Stark (23 Aug 1894 – 15 April 1982) was an American mathematician. She was one of the first women to receive a

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 mathematics. Biography on pp. 575–577 of th
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Education and career

She got her

A.B. 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 ...

in 1916, and her A.M. in 1917, both 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 1917, she became the professor of mathematics

Meredith College Meredith College is a private women's liberal arts college and coeducational graduate school in Raleigh, North Carolina. As of 2021 Meredith enrolls approximately 1,500 women in its undergraduate programs and 300 men and women in its graduate pr ...

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

. In autumn 1919, she started teaching in

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

as a part-time instructor, while attending courses of

Helen Abbot Merrill Helen Abbot Merrill (1864 – 1949) was an American mathematician, educator and textbook author. Biography Merrill was born on March 30, 1864, in Llewellyn Park, New Jersey; her father was a New Jersey insurance claims adjustor of colonial st ...

and Mabel M. Young. In the 1923 summer quarter, and, supported by a fellowship, in autumn 1924 through summer 1925, she studied at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

where she received her Ph.D. in 1926. In 1927, she was appointed assistant professor of mathematics at Wellesley, in 1936, she was promoted to an associate professor there. In 1945, she was promoted to a professorship; in 1946, she became Chairman of the Department. In 1960, she retired from Wellesley after 40 years, her last rank being a Lewis Atterbury Stimson Professor of Mathematics.

Recognition

Stark was named a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

in 1938.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Marion Elizabeth 1894 births 1982 deaths 20th-century American mathematicians American women mathematicians Brown University alumni Meredith College faculty Wellesley College faculty 20th-century women mathematicians 20th-century American women Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science