( BPRW) This Pi Day, let’s honor Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes, the first black woman to hold a mathematics PhD. ( Black PR Wire ) Every year, March 14 is Pi Day. The day is symbolic because (3. 14 ) represents the first three digits of pi, making the event of the mathematical signal pi symbolic. The second Black woman to receive a PhD in algebra, Martha Euphemia Lofton Hayes, is the subject of this year’s ESSENCE celebration. Henrys was born on September 11, 1890, in Washington, D.C., only 25 years after the end of the Civil War. Instead of Martha, Haynes preferred to go by her thick brand, Euphemia. Her parents, William Lofton, was a physician, and her mother was a school teacher. According to the American Mathematical Society, Lofton “was a part of the Washington” Black 400,” a smaller team of fewer than one hundred people who were regarded as lords of color. By the age of nine, Haynes, along with her mother, great-grandmother, brother, and aunt, were residing in her uncle and uncle’s house, according to the 1900 survey. Despite some household challenges, they remained tight, according to archival records. Haynes graduated from M Street High School in 1907. For a man of intelligence is well-equipped to solve the problems of life, she said in her dean conversation.” We must have some defined purpose in living and be able to fill that position professionally.” Let each defeat get the start of a new endeavor and each victory the strengthening of our spirit of gratitude and charity toward the unsuccessful. She received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1914 from Miner Normal School and Smith College two years later. 1930 was an exciting month for Haynes. She graduated from the University of Chicago with a master’s degree in education. Her essay examined the trouble of tests to better understand the causes and modifications in undergraduate grades. In his research, Haynes “discussed the tendencies to assess pupil progress as opposed to just defining students.” She founded the mathematics section at Miner Teachers College, which was eventually changed to University of the District of Columbia, and it specialized in education African-American teachers the same year. Haynes also earned a position as head of the math department at Miner Teachers College in 1930. She may continue to do so for about 30 years. Haynes continued to pursue her calculus research in addition to her many efforts. Haynes became the first Black woman to receive her PhD by earning a doctorate in mathematics at Catholic University of America ( CUA) in 1943. Under the supervision of Professor Aubrey Edward Landry, Haynes wrote her research entitled,” The Determination of Sets of Independent Conditions Characterizing Certain Special Circumstances of Symmetric Correspondences.” She then continued to teach algebra in Washington, D.C. and continue to be a college doctor. In 1960, Haynes joined the D.C. class table. In her master’s thesis, which was “central to her advocacy for desegregating DC Public Schools and ending the system of tracking, a system that placed African-American students on one path ( academic or vocational ), she argued against the use of IQ tests three years later. After Dr. Haynes ‘ election as president of the school board, she “immediately dismantled the monitoring system, replacing it with new lesson methods of evaluation,” and she passed away a year later, paving the way for potential Black people in STEM. The Euphemia Lofton Haynes Award was established 75 years after Haynes received her doctoral degree by CUA, which is given to a” young mathematics big who has demonstrated quality and promises in their study of mathematics.”
(BPRW) On this Pi Day, let’s honor the pioneering Black woman who became the first to obtain a PhD in Mathematics.
