Elizabeth Adam McHarg (22 April 1923 – 29 April 1999) was a Scottish mathematician who, in 1965, became the first female president of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society.
Education
McHarg studied at the Glasgow High School for Girls and then at the University of Glasgow, earning a master's degree with first-class honours in mathematics and natural philosophy in 1943. The university awarded her the Thomas Logan Medal and a George A. Clark scholarship, funding her as a researcher at Girton College, Cambridge. At Girton, she studied nonlinear partial differential equations with Mary Cartwright and completed her Ph.D. in 1948.
Career and contributions
McHarg returned to the University of Glasgow as a lecturer in 1948. There, she became an expert in special functions. She also translated the text Differential Equations by Francesco Tricomi from Italian into English; her translation was published in 1961 by Hafner and republished in 2012 by Dover Publications.
References
- ^ Martin, Dan (7 May 1999), "Dr Elizabeth McHarg", The Herald (Glasgow). Reprinted as "Elizabeth A. McHarg", Glasgow Mathematical Journal, 42 (3): 487–488, September 2000, doi:10.1017/s0017089500030159
- "Edinburgh Mathematical Society – Presidents", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, retrieved 2018-10-12
- Hoyles, Celia (December 2017), "Female Presidents for Three Maths Societies", Mathematics Today, Institute of Mathematics and its Applications
- "Mary Lucy Cartwright: Students", Celebratio Mathematica, Mathematical Sciences Publishers, retrieved 2018-10-12
- Kazarinoff, N. D., "Review of Differential Equations", Mathematical Reviews, MR 0138812
- 1923 births
- 1999 deaths
- 20th-century Scottish mathematicians
- British women mathematicians
- Alumni of the University of Glasgow
- Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge
- Academics of the University of Glasgow
- Italian–English translators
- 20th-century British translators
- Technical translators
- 20th-century British women mathematicians