Joséphine Guidy Wandja
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Joséphine Guidy Wandja (born 1945, also Guidy-Wandja) is an Ivorian mathematician. She is the first African woman with a
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in mathematics.


Early life

She moved to France aged 14. She attended the Lycée Jules-Ferry in Paris, and later the
Pierre and Marie Curie University Pierre and Marie Curie University ( , UPMC), also known as Paris VI, was a public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the Latin Quarter of the 5th arrondissement of Paris, ...
. Her
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate 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 prac ...
thesis was entitled ''Sous les courbes fermées convexes du plan et le théorème des quatre sommets'' (''Under closed convex curves in the plane and the theorem of four peaks''). Whilst working in Paris in the late 1960s she was advised by
René Thom René Frédéric Thom (; 2 September 1923 – 25 October 2002) was a French mathematician, who received the Fields Medal in 1958. He made his reputation as a topologist, moving on to aspects of what would be called singularity theory; he became ...
,
Henri Cartan Henri Paul Cartan (; 8 July 1904 – 13 August 2008) was a French mathematician who made substantial contributions to algebraic topology. He was the son of the mathematician Élie Cartan, nephew of mathematician Anna Cartan, oldest brother of c ...
and Paulette Liberman. She studied for a
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
at the
University of Abidjan A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...
, becoming the first African woman to get a
PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...
in mathematics.


Career

In 1969, she worked at the Lycée
Jacques Amyot Jacques Amyot (; 30 October 15136 February 1593), French Renaissance bishop, scholar, writer and translator, was born of poor parents, at Melun. Biography Amyot found his way to the University of Paris, where he supported himself by serving som ...
in
Melun Melun () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of Seine-et-Marne, ...
, before working for a year at the
Paris Diderot University Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Diderot merged with Pari ...
. In 1971, she joined the University of Abidjan, as a
mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
lecturer. In doing so, she became the first African female university mathematics professor. In 1983, she was appointed the president of the International Committee on Mathematics in Developing Countries (ICOMIDC). The organisation was set up during the
International Mathematical Union The International Mathematical Union (IMU) is an international organization devoted to international cooperation in the field of mathematics across the world. It is a member of the International Science Council (ISC) and supports the International ...
(IMU)
conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...
in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
, Poland, but without the IMU's knowledge. In 1986, she wrote a humorous 24 page mathematical comic book ''Yao crack en maths''. In 1985, she organised an ICOMIDC conference in
Yamoussoukro Yamoussoukro (; , locally ) is the capital city of Ivory Coast and an autonomous district. As of the 2014 census, Yamoussoukro is the fifth most populous city in the Ivory Coast, with a population of 212,670. Located north-west of Abidjan, the ...
, Ivory Coast. She is an officer of the Ivorian Order of Merit of National Education, and the French
Ordre des Palmes Académiques A suite, in Western classical music, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes; and grew in scope so that by the early 17th century it comprised up to ...
.


Publications

* Guidy Wandja, Joséphine, Yao crack en maths (in French), , 1985.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guidy Wandja, Josephine 20th-century women mathematicians Ivorian mathematicians Ivorian women mathematicians 1945 births Living people Pierre and Marie Curie University alumni Academic staff of Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny alumni Academic staff of Paris Diderot University Officiers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques