Person: Kramer, Edna Ernestine
Edna Ernestine Kramer Lassar was an American mathematician and author of mathematics books.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- Kramer and her two siblings, Martha, who was two years younger and Herbert, born in 1911 were held to high standards by their parents with the result that they were all prize-winning students, who were all elected to the Phi Beta Kappa and became teachers.
- They challenged Kramer to card games, such as Hearts and feats of memory, including reciting poetry.
- By the time Kramer entered first grade, in May 1908, she had already studied many of her cousin's higher-level elementary school assignments.
- Kramer's initial career plans; to become a German teacher were dampened by the First World War and consequently she had to review her future.
- Swenson was the chairman of the mathematics department and he inspired Kramer with a love of mathematics that was to last throughout her life.
- Kramer majored in mathematics at Hunter College, receiving her B.A degree summa cum laude in 1922.
- Kasner had published a number of articles on polygenic functions (his coinage) of the ordinary complex variable Kramer used the first part of her thesis to develop an analogous theory of polygenic functions of the dual variable Although similarities between the two theories were found no general principle of transference from one theory to the other appeared to exist.
- Other antecedents of Kramer's work were in the papers of Scheffers on monogenic functions of the dual variable In the second part of her thesis Kramer studied the Laguerre group, a set of linear fractional polygenic transformations of the dual variable and gave a more analytic treatment than had previously been done.
- While Kasner influenced her dissertation, Kramer's earliest pedagogical publication reflects the influence of her mentor, John A.
- The developments of Kramer's ideas, which form the basis of future books, are apparent in this article.
- However that same year, strongly endorsed by Swenson, Kramer became the first female instructor of mathematics at the New Jersey State Teachers College in Montclair, where she was promoted to assistant professor in 1932.
- Planning to marry and fearing the hostility of the new chairman at Montclair College, Kramer decided to return to the New York City School system and she obtained a teaching position at Thomas Jefferson High school in Brooklyn, where her salary doubled.
- Kramer continued with her school teaching after marriage, while also writing, consulting and teaching college courses, including teaching methods courses in the graduate division of Brooklyn College between 1935 and 1938.
- From 1943-45 while Kramer was still teaching at Jefferson High School she worked at Columbia University as a statistical consultant to the university's Division of War Research, under the Office of Scientific Research and Development in Washington D.C. Her work was concerned with probabilistic strategic tactics of the war in Japan, and with anti-aircraft fire control.
- In 1948 Kramer began work at the New York Polytechnic Institute as an adjunct instructor and rose to an adjunct professor in 1953.
- Kramer was not only interested in the applications of mathematics; she was also keen to collect all sorts of historical, cultural and recreational materials to accompany each mathematical concept.
- Kramer's style of writing makes it an enjoyable read for both mathematician and layman alike.
- In 1970 Kramer published the voluminous expansion and sequel, The Nature and Growth of Modern Mathematics.
- Kramer achieved her purpose in giving the reader access to an understanding of the importance of mathematics and its relationship to other areas of scientific thought.
- As a scientist with a keen interest in history, Kramer books also included details about the lives of the mathematicians whose ideas and accomplishments she discussed.
- During the course of her career Kramer was a member of the American Mathematical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, the Société Mathématique de France, the Association Of Women in Mathematics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the History of Science Society and the New York Academy of Sciences.
- For the last ten years of her life Kramer suffered from Parkinson's disease and she died of pneumonia at her home in Manhattan on 9 July 1984.
- Edna Ernestine Kramer Lassar was a mathematician gifted with respect to both mathematics and language.
Born 11 May 1902, Manhattan, New York, USA. Died 9 July 1984, Manhattan, New York, USA.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin Usa, 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
- @Rose-Marie-Monahan
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
