Elizabeth Buchanan Cowley facts for kids

Elizabeth Buchanan Cowley (born in 1874, died in 1945) was an amazing American mathematician. She loved numbers and shapes, and she taught many students about them.

Early Life and Education

Elizabeth Cowley was born on May 22, 1874, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Her family faced some tough times early on. Her mother, Mary Junkin Buchanan Cowley, later became an important person on the Board of Public Education in Pittsburgh. In fact, a school in Pittsburgh, the Mary J. Cowley School, was named after her!

Elizabeth started her journey in education at the Indiana State Normal School of Pennsylvania. She earned her first degree there in 1893 and became a school teacher.

Becoming a Mathematician

Elizabeth wanted to learn even more about math. She went to Vassar College and earned another bachelor's degree in 1901. A year later, in 1902, she earned her master's degree from Vassar.

After that, she became a teacher at Vassar College. During her summer breaks, she kept studying advanced math at the University of Chicago.

In 1908, Elizabeth achieved a huge goal: she earned her doctorate degree from Columbia University. A doctorate is the highest degree you can get in a subject. Her special project, called a dissertation, was about algebraic curves. She was only the fourth woman to earn a math doctorate from Columbia University!

Elizabeth continued teaching at Vassar. She became an assistant professor in 1913 and an associate professor in 1916. Later, in 1929, she decided to teach high school students in Pittsburgh. She retired from teaching in 1938.

Elizabeth Cowley passed away on April 13, 1945, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Her Work in Mathematics

Elizabeth Cowley made several important contributions to mathematics.

• In 1907, she and another mathematician, Ida Whiteside, won an award for their paper. It was about the path of a comet named C/1825 V1.
• In 1926, she wrote about interesting brain teasers called liquid water pouring puzzles. These puzzles involve figuring out how to measure liquids using different containers.
• She wrote two textbooks for students about geometry. Geometry is the study of shapes, sizes, positions, and properties of space. Her books, published in 1932 and 1934, taught about flat shapes (plane geometry) and 3D shapes (solid geometry).
• Elizabeth believed that high school students should learn solid geometry. Many colleges were starting to teach calculus instead, but she thought solid geometry was still very important.
• In 1941, she published another book about public education.

Math Organizations

Elizabeth Cowley was involved in several important math groups.

• She was one of the first members of the Mathematical Association of America. This group helps promote math and math education. She even joined its board of trustees in 1920.
• In 1932, she was invited to speak at the International Congress of Mathematicians. This is a very big meeting where mathematicians from all over the world share their ideas. She talked about how to teach mathematics.
• She was also a member of the American Mathematical Society, the German Mathematical Society, and the Circolo Matematico di Palermo (an Italian math group).