Florence Eliza Allen

Florence Eliza Allen (1876–1960) was an American mathematician and women's suffrage activist. In 1907 she became the second woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the fourth Ph.D. overall from that department.

Education Allen's academic journey began at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics in 1900. She was a distinguished student, inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and participated in campus life, serving in leadership roles in a literary society promoting fine arts, as well as in the self-government association and the yearbook board. Allen continued her studies at the University of Wisconsin, obtaining her master's degree in 1901 with a thesis titled "The Abelian integrals of the first kind upon the Riemann’s surface ."

PhD and dissertation In 1907, Allen made history by becoming the second woman, after Charlotte Elvira Pengra, to receive a PhD in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her dissertation, titled "The Cyclic Involutions of Third Order Determined by Nets of Curves of Deficiency 0, 1, and 2," was supervised by Linnaeus Wayland Dowling and published in the Quarterly Journal of Mathematics in 1914. This accomplishment marked her as the fourth PhD graduate overall from the university's mathematics department. Her contributions to the field were often not recognized, and according to anecdotal evidence, many of her students were unaware of her doctorate, referring to her simply as “Miss Allen.”

Later life Outside academia, Allen was listed in the 1914 “Woman’s Who’s Who of America,” where she expressed her support for women's suffrage. Later, she either lived alone or shared her home with roommates. In her later years, she continued to be involved in her community and professional organizations.

On December 29, 1960, Florence Allen was admitted to the hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. Soon after, she died on December 31, 1960, at the age of 84 years old. She was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in her hometown of Horicon, Wisconsin.