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Mary Rickett

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Mary Ellen Rickett
BornMarch 4, 1861
DiedMarch 20, 1925(1925-03-20) (aged 64)
NationalityBritish
Alma materBedford College, London
Newnham College, University of Cambridge
OccupationMathematician
Known forFirst Wrangler of Newnham

Mary Ellen Rickett (4 March 1861 – 20 March 1925) was a British mathematician who worked on the staff of Newnham College, University of Cambridge for many years.

After being educated at a private school,[1] Rickett earned a bachelor's degree from Bedford College, London, part of the University of London, in 1881, and was the first woman to win the gold medal of the University of London.[2]

She studied at Newnham College beginning in 1882, and took both the Classical Tripos in 1884 and the Mathematical Tripos in 1885 and 1886.[1] In the Mathematical Tripos, her score was next after the 24th Wrangler (and before the 25th Wrangler), making her the first Wrangler of Newnham.[1][3] In 1893, she was elected one of the first thirty associates of the college.[1]

She became a lecturer in mathematics at Newnham College in 1886,[2][1] associate of the college in 1893,[1] acting vice-principal of Old Hall in 1889,[2] and permanent vice-principal in 1895.[1] In Newnham, she coached Philippa Fawcett to become the first woman to get the highest score on the Mathematical Tripos, 1890.[4] Rickett retired in 1908.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "News of the Week and Notes", The Cambridge Review: 110, 28 November 1895
  2. ^ a b c d "Rickett, Mary Ellen (1861–1925)", Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages, Cengage, retrieved 2021-10-23 – via Encyclopedia.com
  3. ^ Creese, Mary R. S. (September 1991), "British women of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who contributed to research in the chemical sciences", The British Journal for the History of Science, 24 (3): 275–305, doi:10.1017/S0007087400027370, JSTOR 4027231, PMID 11622943, S2CID 27890390; see footnote 85, p. 299
  4. ^ Wooldridge, Adrian (2021), The Aristocracy of Talent: How Meritocracy Made the Modern World, Simon and Schuster, p. 324, ISBN 9781510768628