Born: 17 May 1860, United States
Died: 27 March 1934
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
American mathematician and activist Dr. Charlotte Barnum was the first woman to receive her PhD in mathematics from Yale University, in 1895. She was also one of the first women members of the American Mathematical Society
After graduating from Vassar College in 1881, she taught in high schools until 1886, as well as doing computing for the Yale University Observatory (1883-85), working on a revision of James Dwight Dana’s System of Mineralogy, writing for Webster’s International Dictionary (1886-90) and teaching astronomy at Smith College during the 1889-90 school year.
In 1890, Barnum applied to Johns Hopkins University for graduate school but was rejected due to her gender. With the support of mathematics and astronomy professor Simon Newcomb, she was allowed to attend lectures without charge, but not be enrolled. After two years, she moved to New Haven to study at Yale, where her thesis was titled “Functions Having Lines or Surfaces of Discontinuity”. Barnum’s uncles, father, brothers and sister all attended Yale as well.
After a year of teaching at Carleton College, Barnum left academia. She worked as an actuarial computer for life insurance companies until moving to Washington, D.C. in 1901 to do computing for the U.S. Naval Observatory, then the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey’s tidal division until 1908. She then worked as an editorial assistant in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s biological survey section until 1913. Returning to New Haven in 1914, she did editorial work for Yale Peruvian Expeditions, the Yale University secretary’s office, and the Yale University Press, expanding to other organizations and academic institutions from 1917 onward.
She was also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the Women’s Joint Legislative Commission (for equal rights) and the National Conference of Charities (later the National Conference on Social Welfare).