Mary de Lellis Gough
Sister Mary de Lellis Gough (15 February 1892 – 7 April 1983) was an Irish nun who spent most of her life in the USA. She is notable for being the earliest known Irish woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics.
Mary de Lellis Gough | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mary de Lellis February 15, 1892 |
| Died | April 7, 1983 (aged 91) |
| Alma mater | Catholic University of America |
| Occupation(s) | Nun and teacher |
| Employer | Incarnate Word College |
| Organization | Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word |
Life
She was born in Kilmore, County Wexford, Ireland. Her parents were Ellen Dunne and Walter Gough. She attended the local St John of God's primary school.[1] She emigrated to Texas in 1909 with a group of young Irish women, and joined the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, taking vows as Mary de Lellis in 1911.[2]
Career
While working as a high school teacher, she studied at the Catholic University of America. She graduated in 1920, earned a master's degree in 1923, and completed her PhD from the same university in 1931.[2] Her PhD dissertation was entitled On the condition for the existence of triangles in and circumscribed to certain types of the rational quartic curve and having a common side and supervised by Aubrey E. Landry.[2][3]
She taught mathematics at Incarnate Word College from 1920 to 1943.[2] In 1953, she coined the term "mathephobia" based on her observations of her students.[4]
In 1944, she left teaching due to health issues and returned to Texas where she worked as an accountant at a local hospital in Fort Worth. She retired in 1964.[1]
References
- "International Women's Day: Wexford nun is the inspiration behind new Phd in SETU". www.independent.ie. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
- Supplementary Material For Pioneering Women In American Mathematics: The Pre-1940 Phd’s by Judy Green And Jeanne Laduke at AMS
- Mary de Lellis Gough at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- Wen, Tiffanie. "The myth of being 'bad' at maths". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2023-05-14.