94 4. WOMEN MATHEMATICIANSwho had the same tutor that she had. With the support of this tutor and her
fellow women students, she began to move among the serious mathematicians at
Cambridge. In particular, she made friends with a student named Isabel Maddi-
son (1869-1950) of Newnham College, who was being tutored by William Young.
It will be recalled that a decade earlier Charlotte Angas Scott had been eighth
Wrangler in the Tripos. In 1890, after reading a few names of the top Wranglers,
the moderator—W. W. Rouse Ball (1850-1925), the author of a best-selling popular
history of mathematics—made a long pause to get the attention of the audience,
then said in a loud, clear voice, "Above the Senior Wrangler: Fawcett, Newnham."
The young woman, Philippa Fawcett^12 of Newnham College, had scored a major
triumph for women's education, being the top mathematics student at Cambridge
in her year. No better role model can be imagined for students such as Isabel
Maddison and Grace Chisholm. They finished first and second respectively in the
year-end examinations at Girton College the following year. That fall, due to the
absence of her regular tutor, Chisholm was forced to take lessons from William
Young. In 1892 she ranked between the 23rd and 24th men on the Tripos, and
Isabel Maddison finished in a tie with the 27th. (The rankings went as far as 112.)
As a result, each received a First in mathematics. That same year they became the
first women to attempt the Final Honours examinations at Oxford, where Chisholm
obtained a First and Maddison a Second. This achievement made Chisholm the
first person—of either gender— to obtain a First in any subject from both Oxford
and Cambridge.^13
Unfortunately, Cambridge did not offer Grace Chisholm support for graduate
study, and her application to Cornell University in the United States was rejected.
As an interesting irony, then, she was forced to apply to a university with a higher
standard of quality than Cornell at the time, and one that was the mathematical
equal of Cambridge: the University of Gottingen. There, thanks to the liberal
views of Felix Klein and Friedrich Althoff, she was accepted, along with two young
American women, Mary Frances ("May") Winston (1869-1959) and Margaret Eliza
Maltby (1860-1944). In 1895, Chisholm broached the subject of a Ph. D. with Klein,
who agreed to use his influence in the faculty to obtain authorization for the degree.
It turned out to be necessary to go all the way to the Ministry of Culture in Berlin
and obtain permission from Althoff personally. Fortunately, Althoff continued to
be an enthusiastic supporter, and her final oral examination took place on April
26 of that year. She passed it and was granted the Ph. D. magna cum laude.
She herself could hardly take in the magnitude of her achievement. More than
two decades had passed since the university had awarded the Ph.D. to Sof'ya
Kovalevskaya in absentia. Grace Chisholm had become the first woman to obtain
that degree in mathematics through regular channels anywhere in Germany. She
and Mary Winston were left alone together for a few minutes, which they used
"to execute a war dance of triumph." Her two companions Mary Winston and
(^12) Philippa Garrett Fawcett (1868-1948) was the daughter of a professor of political economy at
Cambridge. Her mother was a prominent advocate of women's rights, and her sister was the first
woman to obtain a medical degree at St. Andrew's in Scotland. Philippa used her Cambridge
education to go to the Transvaal in 1902 and help set up an educational system there. From 1905
to 1934 she was Director of Education of the London County Council.
(^13) Isabel Maddison was awarded the Bachelor of Science degree at the University of London in
- She received the Ph.D. at Bryn Mawr in 1896 under the supervision of Charlotte Angas
Scott. She taught at Bryn Mawr until her retirement in 1926.