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==Career==
==Career==
In 1936, Cartwright became director of studies in mathematics at Girton College. In 1938, she began work on a new project which had a major impact on the direction of her research. The Radio Research Board of the [[Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (United Kingdom)|Department of Scientific and Industrial Research]] produced a memorandum regarding [[Van der Pol oscillator|certain differential equations]] which came out of modelling radio and radar work.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{Cite news|title=A Point of View: Mary, queen of maths|date=8 March 2013|journal=BBC News Magazine|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21713163}}</ref> They asked the [[London Mathematical Society]] if they could help find a mathematician who could work on these problems and she became interested. The dynamics lying behind the problems were unfamiliar to Cartwright, so she approached Littlewood for help with this aspect. They began to collaborate studying the equations, which greatly surprised the two:{{quote|For something to do we went on and on at the thing with no earthly prospect of "results"; suddenly the whole vista of the dramatic fine structure of solutions stared us in the face.}}
In 1936, Cartwright became director of studies in mathematics at Girton College. In 1938, she began work on a new project which had a major impact on the direction of her research. The Radio Research Board of the [[Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (United Kingdom)|Department of Scientific and Industrial Research]] produced a memorandum regarding [[Van der Pol oscillator|certain differential equations]] which came out of modelling radio and radar work.<ref name="bbc.co.uk">{{Cite news|title=A Point of View: Mary, queen of maths|date=8 March 2013|journal=BBC News Magazine|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21713163}}</ref> They asked the [[London Mathematical Society]] if they could help find a mathematician who could work on these problems and she became interested. The dynamics lying behind the problems were unfamiliar to Cartwright, so she approached Littlewood for help with this aspect. In particular, they worked on the sensitivity of [[Van der Pol oscillator|van der Pol equations]] to initial conditions.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wolfram|first=Stephen|title=A New Kind of Science|publisher=Wolfram Media, Inc.|year=2002|page=[https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/notes-7-4--history-of-chaos-theory/ 971]|isbn=1-57955-008-8|url=https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/}}</ref> They began to collaborate studying the equations, which greatly surprised the two:{{quote|For something to do we went on and on at the thing with no earthly prospect of "results"; suddenly the whole vista of the dramatic fine structure of solutions stared us in the face.}}
The fine structure described here is today seen to be a typical instance of the [[butterfly effect]]. The collaboration led to important results which have greatly influenced the direction that the modern theory of [[dynamical systems]] has taken.<ref name="obituary">{{cite web|url=http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/articles/ebcart11.html|title=Mistress of Girton whose mathematical work formed the basis of chaos theory|work=Obituaries Electronic Telegraph|date=11 April 1998|access-date=8 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="hayman">{{cite journal|url=http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/46/19|author=[[Walter Hayman]]|title=Dame Mary (Lucy) Cartwright, D.B.E. 17 December 1900 – 3 April 1998|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=46|pages=19–35|date=1 November 2000|access-date=8 March 2017|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1999.0070|doi-access=free}}</ref> Although the duo didn't supply the answer in time, they succeded in directing the engineers' attention away from faulty equipment towards practical ways of compensating for the electrical "noise" - or erratic fluctuations - being produced.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/>
The fine structure described here is today seen to be a typical instance of the [[butterfly effect]]. The collaboration led to important results which have greatly influenced the direction that the modern theory of [[dynamical systems]] has taken.<ref name="obituary">{{cite web|url=http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/articles/ebcart11.html|title=Mistress of Girton whose mathematical work formed the basis of chaos theory|work=Obituaries Electronic Telegraph|date=11 April 1998|access-date=8 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="hayman">{{cite journal|url=http://rsbm.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/46/19|author=[[Walter Hayman]]|title=Dame Mary (Lucy) Cartwright, D.B.E. 17 December 1900 – 3 April 1998|journal=Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society|volume=46|pages=19–35|date=1 November 2000|access-date=8 March 2017|doi=10.1098/rsbm.1999.0070|doi-access=free}}</ref> Although the duo didn't supply the answer in time, they succeded in directing the engineers' attention away from faulty equipment towards practical ways of compensating for the electrical "noise" - or erratic fluctuations - being produced.<ref name="bbc.co.uk"/>


Revision as of 19:10, 26 October 2020

Dame Mary Cartwright
DBE
De Morgan Medal (1968)
Honorary Fellow, Royal Society of Edinburgh (HonFRSE) 1968
Sylvester Medal (1964)
Scientific career
Doctoral advisorG. H. Hardy
Doctoral students
Other notable studentsSheila Scott Macintyre

Dame Mary Lucy Cartwright,

J. E. Littlewood, Cartwright saw many solutions to a problem which would later be seen as an example of the butterfly effect
.

Early life and education

Mary Cartwright (far right) at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1932.

Mary Cartwright was born on 17 December 1900, in Aynho, Northamptonshire, where her father William Digby was vicar. Through her grandmother Jane Holbech, she descended from poet John Donne and William Mompesson, Vicar of Eyam.[3][4] She had four siblings, two older and two younger: John (born 1896), Nigel (born 1898), Jane (born 1905), and William (born 1907).[5] Her early education was at Leamington High School (1912–1915) then Gravely Manor School in Boscombe (1915–1916) before completion in Godolphin School in Salisbury (1916–1919).[6]

Cartwright studied mathematics at

J. E. Littlewood, whom she met for the first time as an external examiner in her oral examination for that 1930 D.Phil.[4]

In 1930, Cartwright was awarded a Yarrow Research Fellowship and went to

unit disc. To prove the theorem she used a new approach, applying a technique introduced by Lars Ahlfors for conformal mappings.[7]

Career

In 1936, Cartwright became director of studies in mathematics at Girton College. In 1938, she began work on a new project which had a major impact on the direction of her research. The Radio Research Board of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research produced a memorandum regarding certain differential equations which came out of modelling radio and radar work.[8] They asked the London Mathematical Society if they could help find a mathematician who could work on these problems and she became interested. The dynamics lying behind the problems were unfamiliar to Cartwright, so she approached Littlewood for help with this aspect. In particular, they worked on the sensitivity of van der Pol equations to initial conditions.[9] They began to collaborate studying the equations, which greatly surprised the two:

For something to do we went on and on at the thing with no earthly prospect of "results"; suddenly the whole vista of the dramatic fine structure of solutions stared us in the face.

The fine structure described here is today seen to be a typical instance of the

dynamical systems has taken.[10][11] Although the duo didn't supply the answer in time, they succeded in directing the engineers' attention away from faulty equipment towards practical ways of compensating for the electrical "noise" - or erratic fluctuations - being produced.[8]

In 1945, Cartwright simplified Hermite's elementary proof of the irrationality of π. She set her version of the proof as a Tripos question, later published in an appendix to Sir Harold Jeffreys' book Scientific Inference. In 1947, she was elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society and,[12] although she wasn't the first woman to be elected to that Society, she was the first female mathematician.[10][11]

Cartwright was appointed Mistress of Girton in 1948 and a Reader in the Theory of Functions in Cambridge in 1959 until 1968.[4] From 1957 to 1960, she was president of the Cambridge Association of University Women.[13] After retiring from Girton, she was a visiting professor at Brown University from 1968 to 1969 and at Claremont Graduate School from 1969 to 1970.[13] Cartwright died in Cambridge, on 3 April 1998 at the age of 97.

Recognition

Cartwright was the first woman:

In 1968, Cartwright received the

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
.

Death

Cartwright died in Midfield Lodge Nursing Home in Cambridge in 1998.[6]

Publications

References

  1. ^ "Obituary: Mary Cartwright". The Times. 1998.
  2. ISBN 0-521-82197-5
  3. ^ Mary Cartwright at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  4. ^ a b c O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Mary Cartwright", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
  5. ^ a b c O'Connor, J. J.; Robertson, E. F. "Dame Mary Lucy Cartwright". School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002" (PDF). Royalsoced.org.uk. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  7. ^ DeFuria, Jack (22 October 2014). "Mary Lucy Cartwright". Prezi. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  8. ^ a b "A Point of View: Mary, queen of maths". BBC News Magazine. 8 March 2013.
  9. ISBN 1-57955-008-8
    .
  10. ^ a b "Mistress of Girton whose mathematical work formed the basis of chaos theory". Obituaries Electronic Telegraph. 11 April 1998. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  11. ^
    doi:10.1098/rsbm.1999.0070
    . Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  12. ^
    doi:10.1098/rsbm.1999.0070
    .
  13. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/69671
    .
  14. JSTOR 3614669
  15. ^ List of LMS prize winners, LMS website, accessed July 2011
  16. ^ "Dame Mary Lucy Cartwright Hon FRSE". The Royal Society of Edinburgh. 28 October 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  17. ^ "CWP Profile". UCLA. 2001. Archived from the original on 17 October 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2017.

External links

Academic offices
Preceded by
Kathleen Teresa Blake Butler
 Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge
1949–1968 		Succeeded by
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