Winifred Edgerton (September 24, 1862 – September 6, 1951) was born in

Ripon, Wisconsin Ripon is a city in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,733 at the 2010 census. The city is surrounded by the Town of Ripon. Ripon is home to the Little White Schoolhouse, the commonly recognized birthplace of ...

. She was the first woman to receive a degree from

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 ...

and the first

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

woman to receive a PhD in mathematics.Kelly, S. E. and Rozner, S. A. (2012
''Winifred Edgerton Merrill: "She Opened the Door"''
NAMS 59(4), 504-512. She was awarded a PhD with high honors from Columbia University in 1886, by a unanimous vote of the board of trustees, after being rejected once.

Early life and education

Winifred Haring Edgerton was born in Ripon, Wisconsin on September 24, 1862. She was the only daughter of Clara and Emmett Edgerton, who apparently were well enough off to build her a small home observatory. She earned her B.A. degree from

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 ...

in 1883, and taught for a time at Sylvanus Reed's School. She continued her interest in astronomy by independently using data from the Harvard observatory to calculate the orbit of the Pons-Brooks comet of 1883. She then appealed to

for permission to use their telescope. On February 4, 1884 the members of the board of trustees agreed, considering her an "exceptional case" and cautioning her "not to disturb the male students." She was required to work as a laboratory assistant to the director of the observatory. She studied math and astronomy at Columbia which at the time was an all-male institution. Her teachers included Professor John Krom Rees, Professor J. Howard Van Amringe and Professor William Guy Peck. After her first appeal to receive a degree was rejected by the trustees, she was advised by President

Frederick A. P. Barnard Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard (May 5, 1809 – April 27, 1889) was an American academic and educator who served as the 10th President of Columbia University. Born in Sheffield, Massachusetts, he graduated from Yale University in 1828 and ser ...

to speak to each of the trustees individually. At the next meeting, she was awarded the PhD with high honors from Columbia University in 1886, by a unanimous vote. Her thesis was "Multiple Integrals and Their Geometrical Interpretation of Cartesian Geometry, in Trilinears and Triplanars, in Tangentials, in Quaternions, and in Modern Geometry; Their Analytical Interpretations in the Theory of Equations, Using Determinants, Invariants and Covariants as Instruments in the Investigation". Mary Williams writes that "The granting of this degree was the outstanding event of the 1886 Columbia Commencement. When she was given her diploma, according to newspaper reports, there was a 'terrible round of applause which the gallant students in the body of the house kept up fully two minutes.'"

Career

Winifred taught mathematics at various institutions for several years after her graduation from Columbia. She was offered a position as professor of mathematics at Wellesley College, but declined, due to plans to marry Frederick Merrill in 1887. Merrill, also a graduate of Columbia (1885; PhD, 1890), became a New York State geologist (1899–1904) and director of the New York State Museum. They had four children. Merrill was also a member of a committee that petitioned Columbia University to found Barnard College in 1889. It became New York's first secular institution to award women a liberal arts degree. In 1906 Winifred Edgerton Merrill founded the Oaksmere School for Girls, directing it until 1928, when she discontinued the school and moved to New York City. She published and spoke on education and was a trustee of Wellesley College. In 1919, she published a system for "translating" signatures into music. Later in life (1948–1951), Winifred worked as a librarian at the Barbizon Hotel in New York City. On the fiftieth anniversary of her graduation from Wellesley, a portrait of Winifred Edgerton Merrill was presented to Columbia and now hangs in one of the academic buildings with the inscription, "She opened the door."

References

External links

* * Biography on p. 419-424 of th
Supplementary Material
a
AMSEntry
in ''The National cyclopædia of American biography'', New York: J. T. White & company, 1893- v.41. p. 113. {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrill, Winifred Edgerton 1862 births 1951 deaths 19th-century American mathematicians 20th-century American mathematicians Wellesley College alumni Columbia University alumni People from Ripon, Wisconsin American women mathematicians 20th-century women mathematicians 20th-century American women 19th-century American women