Person: Gray (3), Marion
Marion Gray was a Scottish mathematician who went to Bryn Mawr College in the USA. The Gray graph is named after her.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- In session 1919-20 Gray took classes in English, Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Ordinary level.
- After spending two years undertaking research in Edinburgh, Gray went to Bryn Mawr College in the United States in 1924 where she undertook research with Anna Wheeler as her supervisor.
- Gray replaced A M Cassie during 1926-27 as an Assistant in Natural Philosophy in the Arts Faculty of Edinburgh University.
- In 1930 Gray returned to the United States.
- Indeed Gray worked for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company from 1930 to 1934 when she joined the staff at the Bell Telephone Laboratories where she continued to work until she retired in 1967.
- Marion C Gray, Note on some Self-Reciprocal Functions in the Double Fourier Transform, J.
- Marion C Gray, A modification of Hallén's solution of the antenna problem, J.
- Marion C Gray and S A Schelkunoff, The approximate solution of linear differential equations.
- Marion C Gray, Legendre functions of fractional order, Quart.
- Marion C Gray, Bessel functions of integral order and complex argument, Comm.
- So far we have not mentioned the mathematical result for which Gray is best known.
- In 1932 she discovered a semisymmetric cubic graph on 54 vertices which today is known as the 'Gray graph'.
- showed that the Gray graph is the smallest possible semisymmetric cubic graph.
- One hundred forty of her reviews were classified as "optics, electromagnetic theory, circuits" while another 52 were classified as "special functions." In 1954 Gray served on an ad hoc committee formed when the National Science Foundation asked the National Bureau of Standards to prepare a handbook of mathematical tables.
- Looking at the 258 reviews that Gray wrote it is clear that she was equally happy reading papers in English, French, German and Italian.
- Marion Gray joined the Edinburgh Mathematical Society in session 1921-22, while she was an undergraduate at Edinburgh, although she was formally elected in the meeting in December 1922.
- Various papers by Gray were read to the Society: The equation of telegraphy (which appeared in volume 42 of the Proceedings and she read to the meeting of the Society in November 1923), The equation of conduction of heat (which also appeared in volume 42 of the Proceedings), and On the equation of heat (which appeared as Particular solutions of the equation of conduction of heat in one dimension in volume 43 of the Proceedings).
- Gray continued to be a member of the Society through the various changes in her career.
- It is interesting to wonder about Gray's life outside her passion for mathematics, physics and her career.
Born 26 March 1902, Ayr, Scotland. Died 16 September 1979, Edinburgh, Scotland.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin Scotland, 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
