Ethel Isabel Moody

Ethel Isabel Moody (1905–1941), was an American mathematician, college professor and one of the few women to earn a PhD in math before World War II.

Early life Moody was born February 9, 1905, into a farming family in the village of Rushville, New York. Her parents were Alice Arminda Stearns and Edward L. Moody, and her older brother was Robert E. Moody.

Under Snyder's direction, Moody completed her thesis at Cornell about algebraic geometry and graduated with her master's degree in 1927. Snyder went on to be instrumental in Moody's life and studies as described by Green: and titled: A Cremona Group of Order Thirty-two of Cubic Transformations in Three-Dimensional Space. It was published in the American Journal of Mathematics.

Early in 1930, Moody was invited by Eugenie Morenus at Sweet Briar College to join the faculty at that school for women, based in part on the recommendation by Snyder. Moody remained there for three years as a math instructor. In 1933, Moody moved to Pennsylvania State College (now Penn State University) and she remained until her death in 1941.

While there, her publications included reviews and a short note in the Bulletin of the AMS. She was also active at the national science organization for graduate women in science, Sigma Delta Epsilon, a fraternity for graduate women in science, and she served as the group's treasurer in 1939 and 1940.

Person life In 1939, Moody bought a 1935 Chevrolet Deluxe Coupe for $275. She died on April 11, 1941, from a fractured skull after her vehicle left the highway near Rushville and plunged down an embankment. She was 36 years old.

Her older brother, Robert E. Moody, collected and donated Ethel's papers to Cornell University.