Women Becoming Mathematicians: Creating A Professional Identity in Post-World War II America ***SIGNED BY AUTHOR!!!***

Cambridge, MA & London: The MIT Press, 2000. © 2000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology . Hardcover. Like New/Like New. 8vo or 8° (Medium Octavo): 7¾" x 9¾" tall. Jean Wilcox (Jacket Design). 370 + xviii + pp. SIGNED BY AUTHOR and Warmly Inscribed to Previous Owner!!! A rare, hard-to-find, out-of-print, scarce, true collectible gem! A wonderful copy! An excellent, spotlessly clean copy and dust jacket! Clean, fresh, sharp, tight, essentially and virtually flawless copy and dust jacket with crisp pages, clean text, and very light shelf wear. Synopsis: "Women Becoming Mathematicians" looks at the lives and careers of thirty-six of the approximately two hundred women who earned Ph.D.s in mathematics from American institutions from 1940 to 1959. During this period, American mathematical research enjoyed an unprecedented expansion, fueled by the technological successes of World War II and the postwar boom in federal funding for education in the basic sciences. Yet women's share of doctorates earned in mathematics in the United States reached an all-time low. This book explores the complex interplay between the personal and professional lives of those women who embarked on mathematical careers during this period, with a view to understanding how changes in American society during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s affected their career development and identities as mathematicians. The book is based on extensive interviews with thirty-six women mathematicians of the postwar generation, as well as primary and secondary historical and sociological research. Taking a life-course approach, the book examines the development of mathematical identity across the life span, from childhood through adulthood and into retirement. It focuses on the process by which women who are actively involved in the mathematical community come to "know themselves" as mathematicians.