Anne Penfold Street facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anne Penfold Street
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| Born | October 11, 1932 Melbourne, Australia
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| Died | December 28, 2016 (aged 84) |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
| Spouse(s) | Norman Street |
| Children | 2, including Deborah |
Anne Penfold Street (1932–2016) was a very important Australian mathematician. She was an expert in a field called combinatorics. This is a branch of mathematics that deals with counting and arranging things.
Anne was the third woman to become a mathematics professor in Australia. She wrote many math textbooks. Her work on "sum-free sets" was very important. She also helped start several math organizations. She supported many young students who loved mathematics.
Contents
Becoming a Mathematician
Early Life and Studies
Anne Penfold Street was born in Melbourne, Australia, on October 11, 1932. Her father was a medical researcher.
She first studied chemistry at the University of Melbourne. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1954. While studying, she also tutored in chemistry. She was also very interested in mathematics. She completed her master's degree in chemistry in 1956.
Moving to the United States
Anne married Norman Street, who was also a chemist. In 1957, they moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the United States. Norman had a new job there.
It was in Illinois that Anne started studying mathematics again. She earned her doctorate degree in mathematics in 1966. Her special area was group theory, which is about understanding symmetry and structures.
Anne's Career Journey
Teaching and Research
After getting her doctorate, Anne Street became a lecturer at the The University of Queensland in Australia in 1967. She also spent a year doing research at the University of Alberta.
When she returned to Queensland in 1970, she was promoted to senior lecturer. She became a reader in 1975. Then, in 1985, she became a full professor. This was a big achievement for a woman in mathematics at that time.
Leading Math Centers
From 1998 to 2004, Anne led the Centre for Discrete Mathematics and Computing at the University of Queensland. She also visited and worked at many other universities around the world. These included the University of Waterloo and the University of Illinois.
Helping the Math Community
Starting Journals and Societies
Anne Penfold Street did a lot to help other mathematicians. In 1990, she became the first editor of the Australasian Journal of Combinatorics. She stayed in this role until 2001.
She also helped create the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications (ICA). She was one of its first members. She edited the Bulletin of the ICA from 1991 to 2014. She was even the president of the ICA from 1996 to 2002.
Anne also helped start the Combinatorial Mathematics Society of Australasia. She was its first president from 1997 to 1998.
Supporting Young Talent
From 1996 to 2001, Anne was the president of the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee. This committee helps talented young math students. She was passionate about supporting new mathematicians.
Awards and Special Recognition
Honours for Her Work
Anne Street received many awards for her important work. In 1994, she won the Bernhard Neumann Award. This award is for excellence in helping students learn more about mathematics.
The University of Waterloo gave her an honorary doctorate degree in 1996. This is a special degree given to people who have achieved great things. In 1999, the Combinatorial Mathematics Society of Australasia gave her their first medal for outstanding service.
In 2014, Anne was named a Member of the Order of Australia. This is a very high honour in Australia. She received it mainly for her work with the Australian Mathematics Trust and the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee.
Awards Named After Her
To honour her legacy, two awards are named after Anne Penfold Street:
- The Anne Penfold Street Awards from the Australian Mathematical Society. These awards help mathematicians with family care when they travel for work.
- The CMSA Anne Penfold Street Student Prize. This award started in 2016. It is given to the best student paper at the annual Australasian Conference on Combinatorial Mathematics and Combinatorial Computing.
Anne's Family
Anne Street had two children. Her daughter, Deborah J. Street, is also a mathematician. She is a statistician at the University of Technology Sydney. Anne and Deborah even wrote a book together about designing experiments using combinatorics.
Her son, Tony Street, is a researcher in Islamic Studies. He works at the University of Cambridge.
Anne Penfold Street passed away on December 28, 2016.
Books Written by Anne Street
- Combinatorics: Room Squares, Sum-Free Sets, Hadamard Matrices (with W. D. Wallis and Jennifer Seberry Wallis, 1972)
- Combinatorial Theory: An Introduction (with W. D. Wallis, 1977)
- Combinatorics: A First Course (with W. D. Wallis, 1982)
- Combinatorics of Experimental Design (with Deborah J. Street, 1987)
- Discrete Mathematics: Logic and Structures (with Elizabeth J. Billington, 1990; 2nd ed., 1993)
See Also
