Dorothy Lewis Bernstein

Dorothy Lewis Bernstein (April 11, 1914 – February 5, 1988) was an American mathematician known for her work in applied mathematics, statistics, computer programming, and her research on the Laplace transform. She was the first woman to be elected president of the Mathematics Association of America.

Early life Bernstein was born in Chicago, the daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants Jacob Louis Bernstein (1880–1956) and Tille (Lewis, originally Loyev; 1887–1969). Her parents had little or no formal education but encouraged their five children to seek education; all five earned either a PhD or MD. In 1950, Princeton University Press published her book, Existence Theorems in Partial Differential Equations. She spent 1959–1979 as a professor of mathematics at Goucher College, where she was chair of the mathematics department for most of that time (1960–1970, 1974–1979).

Memberships Mathematical Association of America American Mathematical Society Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics American Association of University Professors Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1981