Felix Klein’s First Female Doctoral Student Grace Emily Chisholm Young: A Livelong Connection Concerning Mathematical Research and More
摘要
In October 1893, Grace Emily Chisholm arrived in Göttingen to study mathematics, physics and astronomy. Having successfully completed her studies at Girton College in Cambridge, her lecturer Andrew R. Forsyth had suggested that she should continue there because he knew about his colleague Felix Klein’s commitment to women’s studies. With enthusiasm and energy, she followed the lectures and joined discussions with her new academic acquaintances. During this time, she enjoyed the invitations from Klein and his family. She also improved her German skills and gave her first lecture in German at Klein’s seminar early in 1894 about spherical trigonometry. Klein suggested this subject area, and it offered the basis for her dissertation on Algebraisch-gruppentheoretische Untersuchungen zur sphärischen Trigonometrie. She obtained her PhD degree “magna cum laude” in April 1895 and was the first woman in Prussia to do so. In 1896, Grace married the mathematician William Henry Young. On their first mathematical journey to Italy, another suggestion of Klein’s, they got to know the mathematicians who belonged to his network. There, the Youngs published their results on geometry in Italian already. Their successful joint work started in 1900 when Klein advised them to read Arthur Schoenflies’s report on set theory. For the next 25 years, they concentrated their research on this evolving field. This contribution is to present a few aspects of Felix Klein’s influence on Grace Chisholm and her husband.