May Beenken

May Margaret Beenken (22 October 1901, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 21 December 1988, St. Vincent Medical Center (Los Angeles)) was an American mathematician.[1]

May Margaret Beenken
Born(1901-10-22)October 22, 1901
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedDecember 21, 1988(1988-12-21) (aged 87)
St. Vincent Medical Center (Los Angeles)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationMathematician
Years active1928–1969

Life

Beenken was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Sophie Kirn (1862 – 1941) and Henry Beenken (b. 1852). and she had at least three older siblings.[1]

Career

Beenken completed her PhD at the University of Chicago in 1928. Her doctoral advisor was Ernest Preston Lane and her thesis was titled Surfaces in Five-Dimensional Space.[2] She later became an instructor at Oshkosh Teacher's College.[1] She also served as a lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1945, as well as an associate professor (later professor) at Immaculate Heart College from 1947 to 1969.[1]

Personal life

After retiring, "she decided to turn to painting" and "applied herself here with the same single-mindedness as in teaching", according to a former colleague and student of hers.[1]

References
  1. Green, Judy; LaDuke, Jeanne (2009). "Beenken, Mary M.". Pioneering women in American mathematics : the pre-1940 PhD's. Providence, R.I.: American Mathematical Society. pp. 140–141. ISBN 9780821843765. Biography on p.72-73 of the Supplementary Material at AMS
  2. "May Margaret Beenken". The Mathematics Genealogy Project. Retrieved 3 February 2017.


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