Ellen Hayes
Ellen Hayes | |
|---|---|
 Ellen Amanda Hayes, from a 1915 publication | |
| Born | September 23, 1851 |
| Died | October 27, 1930 (aged 79) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Oberlin College |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics Astronomy |
| Institutions | Adrian College Wellesley College University of Virginia |
Ellen Amanda Hayes (September 23, 1851 – October 27, 1930) was an American mathematician and astronomer. She was a controversial figure, not only because of being a female college professor, but also for embracing many radical causes.
Early life
Hayes was born in Granville, Ohio, the first of six children to Ruth Rebecca (Wolcott) Hayes and Charles Coleman Hayes.[1] At the age of seven she studied at the Centerville school, a one-room ungraded public school and, in 1867, at sixteen, was employed to teach at a country school.[1] In 1872, she entered the preparatory department at Oberlin College and was admitted as a freshman in 1875, where her main studies were mathematics and science.[1]
Work
Three years after admission, Hayes obtained bachelor's degree from Oberlin in 1878 and began teaching at
From 1879 until her retirement in 1916, Hayes taught at Wellesley College, where she became head of the mathematics department in 1888 and head of the new department in applied mathematics in 1897.[1] According to one of her colleagues, she was removed from being head of the mathematics department due to disputes over her admission policy.[1] Hayes wore utilitarian clothes instead of the fashionable garments worn by many women of the day and she was described as "strong willed."[1]
As a mathematics professor, she was described as controversial. She questioned the truth of the Bible in front of students.[1] She had very high standards of education, giving more than half of her students D grades during the first year she taught from her trigonometry book.[1] Despite her rigorous teaching style, she had a loyal following of students.[1]
In 1888, Hayes wrote a regular column for the Wellesley College newspaper discussing
In 1891, Hayes was elected one of the first six women to become members of the
A history of Wellesley College reads:
A dauntless radical all her days, in the eighties she was wearing short skirts; in the nineties she was a staunch advocate of Woman's Suffrage; in the first two decades of the twentieth century, an ardent Socialist. After her retirement, and until her death in 1930, she was actively connected with an experiment in adult education for working girls. Fearless, devoted, intransigent, fanatical, if you like, and at times a thorn in the flesh of the trustees, who withheld the title of Emeritus on her retirement, she is remembered with enthusiasm and affection by many of her students.
— History of Wellesley College, [2]
Women in math
Hayes was concerned about under-representation of women in mathematics and science and argued that this was due to social pressure, emphasis on female appearances, lack of employment opportunities for women in mathematics and science fields, and schools that allowed female students to opt out of mathematics and science courses.[1]
Social causes
Hayes was a controversial figure not just for being one of the rare women among mathematics professors in nineteenth-century America, but for her embrace of radical causes such as questioning the Bible, gender-related clothing conventions,
She was the
Later life
Hayes wrote Wild Turkeys and Tallow Candles (1920), an account of life in Granville, “How Do You Know? A Handbook of Evidence and Inference” (1923) and The Sycamore Trail (1929), a historical novel.[2]
In 1929, she moved to West Park, New York to teach at Vineyard Shore School for women workers in industry, despite her pain from arthritis.[1] She died on October 27, 1930.[1] Her will left her brain to the Wilder Brain Collection at Cornell University. Her ashes were buried in Granville, Ohio.[1]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-24849-8.
- ^ a b c Riddle, Larry (1995). "Ellen Amanda Hayes". Biographies of Women Mathematicians. Agnes Scott College. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ^ "Historic Fellows". American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
External links
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