| Authorised form of name | Cartwright; Dame; Mary Lucy (1900 - 1998); mathematician |
| Dates | 1900 - 1998 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Church Cottage, Aynho, Northamptonshire, England |
| Date of birth | 17/12/1900 |
| Place of death | Midfield Lodge Nursing Home, Cambridge Road, Oakington, England |
| Date of death | 03/04/1998 |
| Occupation | mathematician |
| Research field | Pure mathematics |
| Mathematical analysis |
| Activity | Education:
Leamington High School (1912-1915); Graveley Manor School, Boscombe (1915-1916); Godolphin School, Salisbury (1916-1919); St Hugh's College, Oxford. BSc (1923, Maths), DPhil (1930)
Career:
Taught maths at Alice Ottley School, Worcester (1923-1927); Yarrow Research Fellow,Girton College, Cambridge; Lecturer and Staff Fellow, Girton College; Lecturer in Mathematics, Cambridge University (1935); Director of Studies for Mathematics, Girton College (1936-1949); Commandant, Girton College Red Cross Detachment (1940-1944); first woman to serve on Council of the Royal Society; Mistress of Girton College (1949-1968); member of Royal Society delegation to USSR, invited by the Academy of Sciences (1956); Reader in the Theory of Functions, Cambridge University (1959-1968); Chairwoman of Cambridge University Women's Appointments Board; served on the Education Syndicate, Cambridge University; first woman member of the Septem Viri, University Court on matters relating to staff (1958-1960); toured American universities (1968-1971); President, Mathematical Association (1952); continued writing research papers after retirement.
Honours:
DBE 1969
Memberships:
LMS (President 1961-1963); FIMA (Honorary); FRSE
Awards/Medals:
De Morgan Medal 1968 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 20/03/1947 |
| Age at election | 46 |
| Proposer | Harold Davenport |
| Edward Charles Titchmarsh |
| Albert Edward Ingham |
| Louis Joel Mordell |
| John Edensor Littlewood |
| Abram Samoilovitch Besicovitch |
| Godfrey Harold Hardy |
| RSActivity | Royal Society roles:
Council: 1955-1957
Medals and prizes:
Sylvester Medal 1964 |
| Relationships | Parents: William Digby Cartwright, Rector of Aynho, Northamptonshire, and Lucy Harriette Maud Bury.
Siblings: Two older brothers (both killed in the First World War); one yonger brother William Frederick Cartwright; one younger sister Jane Cartwright.
Descended from John Theophilus Desaguliers (FRS 1714) and Thomas Desaguliers (FRS 1780) |
| PublishedWorks | RCN 16964 |
| OtherInfo | Distinguished pure mathematician, particularly for researches in the theory of functions of a complex variable.
First woman mathematician to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society; the first woman to serve on its Council; and the first woman to receive the Sylvester Medal.
Pioneer of the chaos theory, specifically what later became "the butterfly effect".
Firts woman president of the Mathematical Association and London Mathematical Society. |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Image | 
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| Source | Obituaries:
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 2000 vol 46 pp 19-35, plate, by W K Hayman
References:
Joan Mason, 'The Women Fellows' Jubilee' in NR 1995 vol 49 pp 125-140 |
| Code | NA7957 |