Agnes Scott College

Anna Helene Palmie

May 21, 1863 - June 12, 1946


Anna Palmie was born in Brooklyn, New York. She received her undergraduate Ph.B. degree from Cornell University in 1890 and then remained at Cornell for a year as a graduate fellow in mathematics. After a brief time teaching high school mathematics and german at the Horace Mann School, she was hired in 1892 as an instructor of mathematics at Flora Stone Mather College, the women's college of Western Reserve University in Cleveland (later to become part of Case Western Reserve.) She was promoted to associate professor in 1893 and to professor in 1895, remaining at this institution until her retirement in 1928. Whitman quotes Palmie as saying at the time of her retirement:

"Teaching mathematics is a wonderful way to know and study youth. In the early days, every girl studied it. I did all the teaching of it. So I knew every girl. Living in the dormitory, with my youthful appearance—though I was really much older than any of them—made me fully one with them. I think the thing that makes it less hard for me to resign is that the growth of classes has lessened this intimate relation."

Palmie continued her studies in mathematics at the University of Chicago (1896) and the University of Göttingen (1898-1899). She joined the American Mathematical Society in 1897 and was an active member, attending meetings and giving a few talks.

References

  1. American Men of Science: A Biographical Directory, Jaques Cattell, Editor, Science Press, 1944, p1348. (Also earlier editions)
  2. American Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary, Martha Bailey, Editor, ABC-CLIO, 1994, p289
  3. Fenster, Della D. and Karen H. Parshall. "Women in the American Mathematical Research Community: 1891-1906" in The History of Modern Mathematics, Vol. III, E. Knobloch and D. Rowe, Editors. Academic Press, Inc., 229-261.
  4. Siegel, Joan and Kay Thomas Finley. Women in the Scientific Search: An American Bio-bibliography 1724-1979, Scarecrow Press, 1985, p214.
  5. Whitman, Betsey. "Women in the American Mathematical Society before 1900," AWM Newsletter, Vol. 13, No. 5 (Sept/Oct 1983), 7-9.
  6. Author Profile at zbMath