Grace Bates facts for kids

Grace Elizabeth Bates (born August 13, 1914 – died November 19, 1996) was an American mathematician. She was one of the few women in the United States to earn a special advanced degree in mathematics, called a Ph.D., in the 1940s. Later, she became a respected professor at Mount Holyoke College.

Grace Bates was an expert in algebra and probability theory. She also helped write two important math textbooks. Throughout her life, Grace worked hard to study math, even when there were obstacles. Her efforts helped make it easier for other women to study math in the future.

Grace Bates: A Math Pioneer

Early Life and Her Love for Math

Grace Bates was born on August 13, 1914. From a very young age, she was interested in mathematics. Her family encouraged her to follow this interest. She had a very close relationship with her brother. He helped her continue her education through high school and college by using his own salary. This was especially important after their mother died early.

Breaking Barriers in Education

During her studies, Grace often asked to take more advanced math courses. These classes were usually only for male students. When she was in high school at the Cazenovia Seminary, she asked to take a higher-level algebra class.

For her college studies, she went to Middlebury College. At that time, boys and girls studied in separate classes there. In her final year, Grace asked to take a class called differential equations. This class was only offered to male students. After earning her bachelor's degree in math in 1935, she continued her studies. She earned her master's degree from Brown University in 1938.

In 1944, Bates began her Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She was first interested in geometry, but then decided to study algebra. She worked with a professor named Reinhold Baer. She finished her Ph.D. in 1946. Her special research paper was about "Free Loops and Nets and their Generalizations."

A Career in Teaching and Research

Grace Bates taught for a short time at Sweet Briar College. After that, she joined the teachers at Mount Holyoke College. She became very interested in probability and statistics. A colleague suggested she talk to Jerzy Neyman at the University of California, Berkeley.

Because of this, Grace Bates got a special assistant job at the Berkeley Statistical Laboratory. She spent several summers in the 1950s working with Professor Neyman. Together, they wrote many research papers about probability theory.

Grace Bates became a full professor at Mount Holyoke College. She taught there until she retired in 1979. She was known as an emeritus professor, which means she kept her title after retiring. Grace Bates passed away on November 19, 1996.