Helen Abbot Merrill

Helen Abbot Merrill
Helen Abbot Merrill, from the 1929 yearbook of Wellesley College
BornMarch 30, 1864
Llewellyn Park, Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedMay 1, 1949 (age 85)
Wellesley, Massachusetts, U.S.
Scientific career
ThesisOn Solutions of Differential Equations Which Possess an Oscillatoin Theorem (1903)

Helen Abbot Merrill (March 30, 1864 – May 1, 1949) was an American mathematician, educator and textbook author. She was chair of the mathematics department at Wellesley College, where she taught from 1893 to 1932.

Early life and education

Merrill was born on March 30, 1864, in Llewellyn Park, New Jersey.[1] Her father George Merrill was a New Jersey insurance claims adjustor; her mother was Emily Dodge Abbot Merrill. She lived in Newburyport, Massachusetts, for some of her childhood.[2] She entered Wellesley College in 1882; she intended to major in Greek and Latin, but switched to mathematics after one year, and graduated in 1886.[1] She pursued further studies at the University of Chicago and in Germany.[2] In 1903 she earned a PhD in mathematics at Yale University under the direction of James Pierpont. Her thesis was "On Solutions of Differential Equations which possess an Oscillation Theorem."[3]

Her younger brother William P. Merrill was a noted Presbyterian minister, hymn writer, and pacifist.[4]

Career

Merrill taught at girls' schools in New York and Pennsylvania after college.[2] She taught mathematics at Wellesley College beginning in 1893, and she was chair of the mathematics department from 1916 to 1932.[2][5] She rebuilt Wellesley's collection of cardboard mathematical models, after a fire destroyed the original set.[6] Upon her retirement in 1932 from Wellesley, she was given the title professor emerita.[6]

She became a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1911.[7] In 1920 she was appointed vice-president of the Mathematical Association of America.[8]

Publications

Merrill wrote two textbooks with her Wellesley colleague Clara Eliza Smith: Selected Topics in Higher Algebra (Norwood, 1914) and A First Course in Higher Algebra (Macmillan, 1917).[9][10] She also wrote a book titled Mathematical Excursions in 1933, meant to explain some mathematical concepts to a young audience.[11]

Personal life

Merrill died in 1949, at the age of 85, in Wellesley, Massachusetts.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Riddle, Larry (February 25, 2016), "Helen Abbot Merrill", Biographies of Women Mathematicians, Agnes Scott College
  2. ^ a b c d "Helen A. Merrill, Headed Math Department at Wellesley College, 1916 to 1932". The Boston Daily Globe. May 3, 1949. p. 13. Retrieved June 16, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Merrill, Helen A. (1903). "On Solutions of Differential Equations Which Possess an Oscillatoin Theorem". Transactions of the American Mathematical Society. 4 (4): 423–433. doi:10.2307/1986411. ISSN 0002-9947. JSTOR 1986411.
  4. ^ "William Pierson Merrill". Member Directory, Century Archives. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
  5. ^ Wellesley College, The Legenda (1929 yearbook).
  6. ^ a b "Three Retiring as Professors Served Wellesley 100 Years". The Boston Daily Globe. June 18, 1932. p. 2. Retrieved June 16, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Men of Arts and Sciences". Boston Evening Transcript. May 3, 1911. p. 9. Retrieved June 16, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Henrion, C. "Helen Abbot Merrill" in Women of Mathematics: A Bibliographic Sourcebook, L. Grinstein, P. Campbell, eds. New York: Greenwood Press (1987): 147–151.
  9. ^ Riddle, Larry (February 25, 2016), "Clara Eliza Smith", Biographies of Women Mathematicians, Agnes Scott College, retrieved May 8, 2018
  10. ^ Reviews of A First Course in Higher Algebra:
    • The Journal of Education, 87 (2): 49, January 1918, JSTOR 42826577{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Wells, Mary E. (February 1918), The American Mathematical Monthly, 25 (2): 72–74, doi:10.2307/2971993, hdl:2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t2794577q, JSTOR 2971993{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Jourdain, Philip E. B. (April 1918), Science Progress, 12 (48): 684, JSTOR 43426456{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  11. ^ Reviews of Mathematical Excursions:
    • The Mathematics Teacher, 26 (5): 315, May 1933, JSTOR 27951594{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Wells, Mary E. (December 1933), The American Mathematical Monthly, 40 (10): 602–603, doi:10.2307/2301690, JSTOR 2301690{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Smith, David Eugene (December 1933), The Mathematics Teacher, 26 (8): 499–501, JSTOR 27951644{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • P. W. L. C. (January 1934), The Marginal Fifty per Cent, Junior-Senior High School Clearing House, 8 (5): 319, JSTOR 30174218{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Inglis, Alex (February 1935), The Mathematical Gazette, 19 (232): 62, doi:10.2307/3606651, JSTOR 3606651{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Greitzer, Samuel L. (October 1958), The Mathematics Teacher, 51 (6): 481, JSTOR 27955732{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
    • Sprague, R., zbMATH, Zbl 0080.00105{{citation}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  12. ^ "Obituary for Helen A. Merrill". The Star-Ledger. May 3, 1949. p. 18. Retrieved June 16, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
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