Publisher Description

... a wonderful addition to any mathematics teacher's professional bookshelf." -The Mathematics Teacher

The individual biographies themselves make for enthralling, often inspiring, reading... this volume should be compelling reading for women mathematics students and professionals. A fine addition to the literature on women in science... Highly recommended." -Choice

... it makes an important contribution to scholarship on the interrelations of gender, mathematics, and culture in the U.S. in the second half of the twentieth century." -Notices of the AMS

Who is the audience for this book? Certainly women who are interested in studying mathematics and women already in mathematics who have become discouraged will find much to interest and help them. Faculty who teach such women would put it to good use. But it would be a loss to relegate the book to a shelf for occasional reference to an interested student or beginning mathematician. Everyone in the mathematics community in which each of Henrion's subjects struggled so hard to find a place could benefit by a thoughtful reading." -Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) News

Mathematics is often described as the purest of the sciences, the least tainted by subjective or cultural influences. Theoretically, the only requirement for a life of mathematics is mathematical ability. And yet we see very few women mathematicians. Why?

Based upon a series of ten intensive interviews with prominent women mathematicians throughout the United States, this book investigates the role of gender in the complex relationship between mathematician, the mathematical community, and mathematics itself.

Notes

The role of gender in making and shaping mathematicians.

Author Biography

Claudia Henrion is Visiting Professor of Mathematics, Education, and Women's Studies at Dartmouth College.

Review

'Mathematicians do their best work in their youth'; 'mathematicians work in complete isolation'; 'mathematics and politics don't mix.'These and other myths are discussed and debunked—in both theoretical and concrete terms—in the particular context of the role of women in mathematics. Henrion studies the nature of the participation of women in mathematical research and surrounding issues of gender and race by weaving her narrative around detailed profiles of nine respected women mathematicians (including two African American women). The individual biographies themselves make for enthralling, often inspiring, reading; combined with Henrion's careful, generally evenhanded, and tightly conceived commentary, this volume should be compelling reading for women mathematics students and professionals. A fine addition to the literature on women in science and, as it is written by a mathematical 'insider,' it is all the more likely to receive attention by the mathematics community. Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty. -- S. J. Colley * Choice *

Promotional

The role of gender in making and shaping mathematicians.

Prizes

Winner of A Choice Outstanding Academic Book of 1999.

Review Text

'Mathematicians do their best work in their youth'; 'mathematicians work in complete isolation'; 'mathematics and politics don't mix.'These and other myths are discussed and debunked--in both theoretical and concrete terms--in the particular context of the role of women in mathematics. Henrion studies the nature of the participation of women in mathematical research and surrounding issues of gender and race by weaving her narrative around detailed profiles of nine respected women mathematicians (including two African American women). The individual biographies themselves make for enthralling, often inspiring, reading; combined with Henrion's careful, generally evenhanded, and tightly conceived commentary, this volume should be compelling reading for women mathematics students and professionals. A fine addition to the literature on women in science and, as it is written by a mathematical 'insider,' it is all the more likely to receive attention by the mathematics community. Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty.

Review Quote

"'Mathematicians do their best work in their youth'; 'mathematicians work in complete isolation'; 'mathematics and politics don't mix.'These and other myths are discussed and debunked--in both theoretical and concrete terms--in the particular context of the role of women in mathematics. Henrion studies the nature of the participation of women in mathematical research and surrounding issues of gender and race by weaving her narrative around detailed profiles of nine respected women mathematicians (including two African American women). The individual biographies themselves make for enthralling, often inspiring, reading; combined with Henrion's careful, generally evenhanded, and tightly conceived commentary, this volume should be compelling reading for women mathematics students and professionals. A fine addition to the literature on women in science and, as it is written by a mathematical 'insider,' it is all the more likely to receive attention by the mathematics community. Highly recommended. Undergraduates through faculty."--S. J. Colley, Oberlin College , Choice , June 1998

Promotional "Headline"

The role of gender in making and shaping mathematicians.

Details