Mary Clem

Biography Clem was born on October 19, 1905

In 1931, she joined the Mathematics Statistical Service of the Mathematics Department of Iowa State College to work as a human computer under the supervision of George Snedecor. Although she complained that mathematics was her poorest subject in high school, she was fascinated with figures and data. Most of her work was done via punch cards, both creating formulas and cards, and running accuracy checks on them. She invented the “zero check” while working in Snedecor’s lab. The “zero check” is a sum that should equal zero if all other numbers had been correctly calculated. Clem expressed that her lack of training as a mathematician is what made her notice these sums, as they had often been overlooked by others. In 1962, she transferred to the new Computation Center at Iowa State University. In 1952, she was a statistical consultant to the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Hiroshima, Japan.

Publications

Homeyer, Paul G.; Clem, Mary A.; and Federer, Walter T. (1947) "Punched card and calculating machine methods for analyzing lattice experiments including lattice squares and the cubic lattice," Research Bulletin (Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station): Vol. 28 : No. 347, Article 1.