Yale Bulletin and Calendar

February 18, 2000

Volume 28, Number 21

Pioneering alumna to discuss
use of math in real world

Evelyn Boyd Granville, a 1949 alumna of the Graduate School and the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in the United States, will return to campus as the Schulz-Hoyt Lecturer, Wednesday-Friday, Feb. 23-25.

Granville will give a talk on "Recognizing the Importance of Rigorous Mathematics in Solving Real-World Problems" at noon on Feb. 24 in Sterling Memorial Library's lecture hall, 120 High St. At 4 p.m. that day, she will also be a guest at a master's tea in Silliman College, 71 Wall St. Both events are free and open to the public.

While on campus, Granville will also be honored at a dinner in the Presidents' Room of Woolsey Hall as part of the Afro-American Culture Center's "Black History Month 2000" celebration (see related story, this page). That event is by invitation only.

Looking back over the years, says Granville, it doesn't seem unusual at all that she went to college or graduate school, or even that she studied math. But, in fact, she was a pioneer in all three.

Born to a working-class family in Washington, D.C. in 1924, Granville attended segregated public schools. Dunbar High School, where she was enrolled, was called "an academic school for colored students." Her mother finished high school and became a secretary for the U.S. government. Her father had less education and held a series of jobs: chauffeur, building superintendent, and the like.

"Education was preached to us all our lives," Granville recalls. "The message we got at home and in school was, get an education and have a quality life. It was assumed that we'd go to college."

She went to Smith College, where she majored in math and minored in physics. She graduated summa cum laude and was named to Phi Beta Kappa. Then she went on to Yale, where she earned master's and doctoral degrees in math. These were unusual accomplishments for a woman of her era, and are still unusual today -- especially given the fact that the ratio of male mathematicians to female is roughly 10 to 1, according to the registrar of Yale's math department. While records don't go back to 1949, in the past 30 years, only 25 women have received Ph.D.'s in math at Yale, and none identified themselves as African American, according to the Office of Institutional Research.

"Why did I study math? Math was my talent," says Granville with a laugh. "That's what the good Lord gave me, so I was just doing what came naturally."

At Yale, Granville lived in a converted fraternity house at 370 Temple St. with 20 or 30 other young women.

"I really enjoyed my years at Yale," she says. "It was a fun dorm. The women were close to one other. We never felt isolated. Often, after dinner in Woolsey Hall Commons, we'd stay and play bridge. Sometimes we'd have a bite at George and Harry's, across the street from where we lived."

Granville taught at New York University and then at Fisk University before launching her research career in 1952 as a specialist in rocket and missile fuses, orbit computations and trajectory calculations for national defense and the space program. She worked for the Department of the Army, IBM, NASA and North American Aviation, providing technical support for the Vanguard, Mercury and Apollo projects. While still working for IBM, she returned to teaching, and from 1961 to 1997, she taught at the University of Southern California, California State University and the University of Texas. In addition, she served as an educational consultant to the State of California, helping to improve the teaching of math in elementary and secondary schools.

Granville's visit to Yale is jointly sponsored by the George J. Schulz Lectureship and the Hoyt Fund.

-- By Gila Reinstein

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