Anna Mullikin facts for kids

Anna Margaret Mullikin (born March 7, 1893 – died August 24, 1975) was an important mathematician. She was one of the first people to study something called point set theory. This part of math looks at how points are connected in a space. Her work helped lead to big discoveries in this field.

Who Was Anna Margaret Mullikin?

Anna Margaret Mullikin was an American mathematician. She made important contributions to a field of math known as point set theory. This area of mathematics studies how points are arranged and connected within different spaces.

Her Journey to Becoming a Mathematician

Anna Margaret Mullikin was born in 1893. She began her higher education at Goucher College. She earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Arts (BA), in 1915. After Goucher, she continued her studies at the University of Pennsylvania. There, she worked towards her advanced degree, a doctorate.

Her Groundbreaking Math Work

Anna Mullikin became the third student to earn a doctorate under the famous mathematician Robert Lee Moore. She finished her PhD in 1922. Her special research paper, called a dissertation, was titled Certain Theorems Relating to Plane Connected Point Sets. This paper was published in a major math magazine, the Transactions of the American Mathematical Society, in the same year. Her work was very important. It became a starting point for many new and significant discoveries in the field of point set theory.

A Career in Teaching

Even though her research was very important, Anna Mullikin spent most of her career teaching. She taught mathematics at high schools. From 1921 to 1922, she taught at the Oak Lane Country Day School. This school was for younger children. Later, she became a math teacher at Germantown High School (Philadelphia). While teaching there, she became a guide and teacher, or "mentor," to a student named Mary-Elizabeth Hamstrom. Mary-Elizabeth Hamstrom also went on to study with Robert Lee Moore and became a professional mathematician herself.