Charlotte Scott

Charlotte Angas Scott (8 June 1858 – 10 November 1931) was a British mathematician who made her career in the United States; she was influential in the development of American mathematics, including the mathematical education of women. Scott played an important role in Cambridge changing the rules for its famous Mathematical Tripos exam.

Early life She was the second of seven children to Caleb Scott, a minister of the Congregational Church, and Eliza Exley Scott. Educated at Girton College, Cambridge from 1876 to 1880 on a scholarship, she was then a Resident Lecturer in Mathematics there until 1884. In 1885 she became one of the first British women to receive a doctorate, and the first British woman to receive a doctorate in mathematics, which she received from the University of London. She did her graduate research under Arthur Cayley at Cambridge University, but since Cambridge did not begin issuing degrees to women until 1948, Scott received her BSc (1882) and D.Sc. (1885) from the University of London Her book An Introductory Account of Certain Modern Ideas and Methods in Plane Analytical Geometry was published in 1894 and reprinted thirty years later. Scott was one of the first English language textbook writers to be "perfectly aware" of the "distinction between a general principle and a particular example". She played an important role in the transition to twentieth century custom of abstract mathematical proofs. She served as the first woman on the first Council of the American Mathematical Society in 1894, and received an acclaimed review from the Society in 1896. She was one of only four women to attend the inaugural International Congress of Mathematicians in Zurich in 1897; the other three were Iginia Massarini, Vera von Schiff, and Charlotte Wedell. In 1906 Scott served as vice-president of the American Mathematical Society.

Women in mathematics Scott maintained the view that personal conservatism was a requirement to promote women's educational and political equality. She disapproved of smoking and makeup, however she did bob her hair before moving to Bryn Mawr (short hair being controversial even in the 1920s). This view was also held by the early Girton College community, because unaccompanied women in Cambridge could be thrown into Spinning House, a special prison for prostitutes and suspected prostitutes.

Also in 1906, Scott developed an acute case of rheumatoid arthritis, which along with her increasing deafness, interrupted her work. Under the advice of a doctor to get outside exercise, Scott began gardening and developed a new strain of chrysanthemum. She retired in 1924, but stayed an extra year in Bryn Mawr to help her eighth doctoral student complete her dissertation before she returned to and settled in Cambridge.

Recognition In 2016, the Council of the University of Cambridge approved the use of Scott's name to mark a physical feature within the North West Cambridge Development.

In 2018 The University of Lincoln opened the Charlotte Scott Algebra Centre , after founding the annual Charlotte Scott Lecture in Mathematics in 2017 , and opening the Charlotte Scott Building on the University's Brayford Campus.

Publications