Dagmar R. Henney

The University of Maryland, College Park Art Gallery celebrated its 50th anniversary on Feb. 24, 2016 with a memorable art exhibition. Among those attending were President Wallace Loh and his wife, Barbara, on the left; and Prof. David C. Driskell, along with Prof. Dagmar Henney, on the right. Photo courtesy University of Maryland Art Gallery, used with permission. Dr. Dagmar Henney was awarded the 50th Emeritus Alumni Society Medallion on May 18, 2016, at an alumni ceremony prior to the Spring Commencement at the University of Maryland, College Park. Photo courtesy University of Maryland Alumni Association, used with permission. Dagmar Renate "Reni" Kirchner Henney (May 6, 1931 – September 16, 2023) was a German-born American mathematician and former professor of calculus, finite mathematics, and measure and integration at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Early life and education Henney was born in Berlin, Germany as Dagmar Renate Kirchner to Albert, a scientist, and Margot Kirchner. Though her father was Catholic, Henney's mother was Jewish, which made her a target of the Nazi Party. During the war, Henney's mother was killed in Auschwitz. Not long after, Henney and her father went on the run; splitting their time between the cities of Berlin and Hamburg to avoid the Nazis and later fleeing from the invading Soviet army. In an interview, Henney recalled that at one point during this period, she found twenty bombshells scattered on her front lawn.

As a Jewish child, Henney was not allowed to enroll in a formal school during the war years. Her father, a scientist, taught her chess and mathematics at home, rewarding her with mathematical problem sets if she won a game.

At the age of 21, Henney moved to the United States in pursuit of a college degree. She had accumulated 63 transferable credits from her high school studies, and was able to matriculate rapidly at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida. taught classes at the university, teaching up to twelve credits a semester. At the age of 24, three years after she enrolled, Henney graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in physics and a minor in mathematics and chemistry, as well as a Master of Science degree in pure mathematics. Instead of receiving her diploma during the award ceremony, she was handed a blank piece of paper, as she had forgotten to pay the university's graduation fee.

Career citation needed span|text=After completing her degree at the University of Maryland, Henney became a professor in the Department of Mathematics at George Washington University, where she taught classes in calculus, finite mathematics, and measure and integration. In addition to the work she performed as a professor, she also served as an adviser to the university's chapters of Pi Mu Epsilon (the National Mathematics Honorary Society), Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Society), and Phi Beta Kappa.

Research While developing her thesis, in 1962 Henney researched and published such projects as "Set-Valued Quadratic Functionals" and "One-Parameter Semigroups". and best-selling title, Unsolved Questions in Mathematics. In addition to publishing her own research, Henney has experience in editing, including her work in Open Questions in Mathematics, which explores the work of significant scientists and Nobel Prize winners from around the globe. Henney gives credit to Portuguese, German, and Scandinavian mathematicians in her research, as she used their findings to further develop theoretical problems and research which she published in American scholarly journals.

Honors and distinctions Henney's accomplishments have made her the recipient of several distinguished honors, ranging from her membership in Phi Beta Kappa to her distinction as a member of both Who's Who of American Women and The World's Who's Who. Henney was the first female student to receive a scholarship to the University of Miami from B'nai B'rith. She was also admitted into the National Association of Science Writers. In addition to being a finalist for the Congressional Scientist Fellows program, Henney was also a candidate for the Congressional Scientist Program, which serves to connect Capitol Hill with the scientific community at large. Additionally, Johns Hopkins University honored Henney's work at the Conference of Conjugate Duality.

Personal life In 1956, Henney became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America.

Henney was widowed and remained a resident of the Washington, DC, metropolitan area until her death in 2023.