Person: Krieger, Cypra Cecilia
Cypra Cecilia Krieger Dunaj was the first woman to earn a PhD in mathematics from a Canadian university and only the third person to be awarded a mathematics doctorate in Canada. She is best known for her English translation of Sierpinski's Introduction to General Topology (1934) and General Topology (1952)
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- For example the Jewish Burial Register gives "Name: Cecilia Krieger Dunaj.
- Cecilia was the oldest of the three girls, the younger two being Regina Krieger (1896-1958) and Rachel Krieger (1901-1978), known as "Rae".
- Cecilia attended school in Poland but then went to Vienna in 1919 where she entered the University of Vienna to study mathematical physics.
- This they did in 1920 and arrived in Toronto where Cecilia entered the University of Toronto.
- Beginning university studies in Toronto was certainly no easy task for Cecilia since at the time that she arrived she knew hardly a single word of English.
- When she was awarded her doctorate in 1930 from the University of Toronto, Krieger became the third woman to be awarded a doctorate in Canada and the first to be awarded a doctorate in mathematics.
- Krieger spent a year at Göttingen University.
- while working toward her bachelor's degree at the University of Toronto in the 1940s, Morawetz recalls that Cecilia Krieger was the first, and perhaps the only, member of the faculty to take an active interest in her mathematical future.
- Krieger, who was chair of the committee for the Junior Fellowship of the Canadian University Women's Club, pointed out that money needn't be an obstacle and suggested that Morawetz apply for the award.
- Morawetz followed her advice and won the fellowship; Krieger's determined encouragement had caused her to take herself and her mathematics more seriously.
- Peter Arthur Fillmore is a Canadian mathematician who met Krieger during the 1950s.
- Krieger made several international trips including a visit to England in the summer of 1931.
- In 1997 Cathleen Morawetz was awarded the Krieger-Nelson Prize Lectureship for Distinguished Research by Women in Mathematics by the Canadian Mathematical Society.
- Krieger is best known for her English translation of Sierpinski's Introduction to General Topology (1934) and General Topology (1952).
- The Krieger-Nelson Prize Lectureship mentioned above was set up by the Canadian Mathematical Society in 1995.
- The Executive of the Canadian Mathematical Society, having considered the possibilities, proposed in December of 1994: "That the Prize for Outstanding Research by Women in Mathematics be named the Krieger-Nelson Prize Lectureship, pending consultation with the families." The motion was carried unanimously.
Born 9 April 1894, Jasło, Galicia, Austrian Empire (now Poland). Died 17 August 1974, Ontario, Canada.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin Poland, Women
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
- Github:
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
