Person: Senechal, Marjorie
Marjorie Senechal is an American mathematician who worked on tessellations and quasicrystals. She won the Mathematical Association of America's Carl B Allendoerfer Award for excellence in expository writing in Mathematics Magazine for her article, Which Tetrahedra Fill Space? Her book American Silk 1830-1930 won the Millia Davenport Publication Award of the Costume Society of America.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- However, for simplicity, we will use the name Marjorie Senechal throughout this biography.
- Entering the University of Chicago, Senechal had no idea what she wanted to study.
- Senechal had not, partly because she had left school after the 11th grade.
- At the Illinois Institute of Technology Senechal met Lester John Senechal who, like her, was undertaking research for a Ph.D. in mathematics.
- Lester Senechal's research advisor was Ray Lorch, and he was awarded a Ph.D. in 1963 for his thesis On Uniform Operators.
- After the award of his doctorate, Lester Senechal was appointed to the University of Arizona.
- Let us note as an aside that Diana Senechal was awarded a Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literature from Yale University.
- This provided good opportunities for Senechal to obtain a position and she was appointed to a one year position at Smith College, for the academic year 1966-67, standing in for a woman who was on maternity leave.
- At Smith College, the woman who had taken maternity leave did not return and in 1967 Senechal was appointed as an assistant professor and given a two year appointment.
- Senechal published her first paper in her new area of interest in 1975, Point groups and color symmetry in the journal Zeitschrift fur Kristallographie.
- Nor Senechal was firmly grounded in an international community of researchers that would take her overseas many times.
- The year spent in Russia was significant to Senechal in other ways.
- As well as international visits, Senechal also played a major role in organising various international conferences at Smith College, For example in 1973 an interdisciplinary symmetry meeting was held at Smith College and Senechal was one of the two editors of the proceedings along with George Fleck.
- Again there was a conference proceeding which Senechal and Fleck edited.
- There is a surprising aspect of Senechal's publication list, namely the fact that she has published articles on silk.
- Senechal retired from teaching in July 2007 but this allowed her to spend more time on two major projects, namely editing The Mathematical Intelligencer and writing a biography of Dorothy Wrinch.
- Senechal has given much service to the mathematical community with her editorial work.
- Among the awards and honours that have been given to Senechal we mention: the Carl B Allendoerfer Award from the Mathematical Association of America in 1982, for her paper Which tetrahedra fill space?; the Honored Faculty Award from Smith College in May 2007; the Millia Davenport Publication Award from the American Costume Society in 2008; and elected a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2012.
Born 18 July 1939, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin Usa, Women
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- @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
