Which American university or college was the first to award a doctorate to a woman, and who was the recipient of the doctorate and in what year?

gtho4

Helena Lucretia Cornaro Piscopia (1646-1684). University of Padua, in 1678. Chronology: 1672 Helena Lucretia Cornaro Pisopia wanted to enter the Benedictine Order but her father refused permission . Instead her sent her to the University of Padua to continue her studies. She just wanted to study. Her father insisted that her learing be given public recognition. Helena Lucretia Cornaro Piscopia applied for a Doctorate of Theology degree from the University of Padua but her application met resistance. Officials of the Church refused to confer the title of Doctor of Theology upon a woman. As a result, she applied a second time. This time, they gave her a Doctorate in Philosophy. 1678 Helena Lucretia Cornaro Piscopia ( Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia) received the Doctorate in Philosophy by the University of Padua. She was the first woman in the world to receive a doctorate degree. In addition she received Doctor's Ring, the Ermine Cape of Teacher and the Poet's Laurel Crown. Her examination for this degree was scheduled for the University Hall at Padua but because of the enormous crowd of spectators the examination was transferred to the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin in Padua. It is said that she was brilliant and her answered amazed her examiners and they agreed that he knowledge far exceeded that of Doctor of Philosophy - hence the additional honors granted to her. She was an accomplished musician - playing the clavichord, the harp and violin as well as composing. She was 32 years old. In that same year she was appointed mathematics professor at the University of Padua. After receiving the doctorate Helena Lucretia Cornaro Piscopia dedicated her life to the care of the poor. She left noble society, rejected several marriage proposals and became a Benedictine oblate.. 1684 She died of tuberculosis on July 26. Helena Lucretia Cornaro Piscopia had requested that she be buried in the Church of Santa Giustina in Padua, Italy. There is a statue of her at the University of Padua. http://www.women-philosophers.com/Helena-Lucretia-Cornaro-Piscopia.html Jan 03 13, 8:10 PM

gtho4

oops, I should read the question closely. The first in the USA was Winifred E. Merrill, who received a PhD in Mathematics from Columbia University in 1886. Ida M. Mercalf was the second, in 1893 from Cornell University. http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/firstPhDs.htm Winifred Edgerton, the first American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics, was born in Ripon, Wisconsin. She was a direct descendent of Elder William Brewster of Plymouth Colony. She received her early education from private tutors before earning her B.A. degree from Wellesley College in 1883. After some work at Harvard she was allowed to study mathematics and astronomy at Columbia University. At the end of her second year she petitioned to receive a Ph.D. degree, having fulfilled the required credits and written an original thesis titled "Multiple Integrals" that dealt with geometric interpretations of multiple integrals and translations and relations of various systems of coordinates. Her work in mathematical astronomy included computation of the orbit of the comet of 1883. Despite the support of President Barnard, a campaigner for women's education, the board of trustees refused her application. Barnard suggested that Edgerton personally talk to each trustee. This effort proved successful and at the next meeting the board unanimously voted to award her the Ph.D. in mathematics, which she received in 1886 with highest honors. The scrapbook of the history of the Wellesley mathematics department contains the following anecdote: In 1886 Winifred Edgerton '83 took the doctor's degree in Mathematics at Columbia, the first Wellesley graduate to receive that degree, and probably the first woman in the country to take it in mathematics. At the time we were greatly impressed and pleased to learn of the results of an effort on the part of some Columbia men to make things hard for this undesired student. They asked their professor to use the hardest possible text in their course in Celestial Mechanics. The book chosen was Watson's (Celestial Mechanics), which Miss Hayes' class, including Winifred Edgerton, had used at Wellesley." http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/merrill.htm Jan 03 13, 8:33 PM

bloomsby

Thanks, George. That is very close indeed for the first such award in Britain, to Sophie Bryant, who was awarded a D.Sc. by the University of London is 1884. Jan 03 13, 8:56 PM