Mary de Lellis Gough | |
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Born | Mary de Lellis February 15, 1892 |
Died | April 7, 1983 | (aged 91)
Alma mater | Catholic University of America |
Occupation(s) | Nun and teacher |
Employer | Incarnate Word College |
Organization | Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word |
Sister Mary de Lellis Gough (15 February 1892 – 7 April 1983) was an Irish nun who spent most of her life in the USA. She is notable for being the earliest known Irish woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics.
She was born in Kilmore, County Wexford, Ireland. Her parents were Ellen Dunne and Walter Gough. She attended the local St John of God's primary school. [1] She emigrated to Texas in 1909 with a group of young Irish women, and joined the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, taking vows as Mary de Lellis in 1911. [2]
While working as a high school teacher, she studied at the Catholic University of America. She graduated in 1920, earned a master's degree in 1923, and completed her PhD from the same university in 1931. [2] Her PhD dissertation was entitled On the condition for the existence of triangles in and circumscribed to certain types of the rational quartic curve and having a common side and supervised by Aubrey E. Landry. [2] [3]
She taught mathematics at Incarnate Word College from 1920 to 1943. [2] In 1953, she coined the term " mathephobia" based on her observations of her students. [4]
In 1944, she left teaching due to health issues and returned to Texas where she worked as an accountant at a local hospital in Fort Worth. She retired in 1964. [1]