Evelyn Boyd Granville
Evelyn Boyd Granville | |
|---|---|
| Born | Evelyn Boyd 1 May 1924 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Died | 27 June 2023 (aged 99) Silver Spring, Maryland, U.S. |
| Other names | Evelyn Boyd |
| Occupation(s) | Mathematician, computer scientist, educator |
| Years active | 1945–2023 |
| Known for | Second African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics; contributions to NASA space programs and computing |
Evelyn Boyd Granville (May 1, 1924 – June 27, 2023) was a distinguished American mathematician and computer scientist. She became the second African-American woman to obtain a Ph.D. in mathematics from a U.S. institution, earning her doctorate in 1949 at Yale University. Granville completed her undergraduate studies at Smith College in 1945. She was a pioneer in computing, with notable achievements in applied mathematics and computer science.
Her professional journey included a pivotal role at IBM beginning in 1956, where she contributed to projects for NASA. Granville was instrumental in creating software to calculate space vehicle trajectories for major initiatives such as Project Vanguard, Project Mercury—the first American manned space mission—and the Apollo lunar expeditions. At Space Technology Laboratories located in Los Angeles, she furthered her work on orbit calculations for crewed spacecraft.
Granville’s knowledge significantly influenced the early integration of computer science within aerospace engineering, marking her as a key innovator in both mathematics and computing during the early era of space exploration.
Early life and education
Born in Washington, D.C., Evelyn Boyd grew up during the Great Depression with her mother and aunt, both employees at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, after her father left the family. She graduated as valedictorian from Dunbar High School, a segregated but academically rigorous institution for African-American students.
Supported financially by her aunt and awarded a partial scholarship from Phi Delta Kappa, Boyd enrolled at Smith College in 1941, focusing on mathematics and physics while cultivating an interest in astronomy. She graduated summa cum laude in 1945 and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi. After receiving a graduate scholarship from Smith College, she opted to attend Yale University over the University of Michigan due to more favorable financial aid. At Yale, she earned a master's degree in 1946 followed by a doctorate in 1949 under the mentorship of Einar Hille. Her dissertation was titled "On Laguerre Series in the Complex Domain."
Career
Following her graduate studies, Boyd engaged in research and teaching at New York University’s Institute for Mathematics. In 1950, she accepted a position at Fisk University, a historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee, where two of her pupils eventually completed doctorates in mathematics. By 1952, she shifted from academia to work at Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratories in Washington. In 1956, she joined IBM as a computer programmer; after IBM secured a contract with NASA, she moved to the Vanguard Computing Center.
Boyd relocated first to New York City in 1957 and later to Los Angeles in 1960 following her marriage to Reverend G. Mansfield Collins. There she worked at U.S. Space Technology Laboratories (which later became North American Aviation Space and Information Systems Division), contributing to the Apollo program with expertise in celestial mechanics, trajectory calculations, and digital computing methods.
Due to organizational changes within IBM, she accepted a full professorship at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) in 1967. After retiring from CSULA in 1984, she spent four years teaching at Texas College before joining the faculty of the University of Texas at Tyler in 1990 as Sam A. Lindsey Professor of mathematics. During her tenure there, she developed programs aimed at enhancing elementary mathematics education and became an outspoken advocate for women’s participation in technology fields since 1967.
Incidents of Discrimination
In 1951, during the southeastern regional meeting of the Mathematical Association of America held in Nashville, Lee Lorch, who was then serving as the mathematics department chair at Fisk University, attended alongside three African-American colleagues: Evelyn Boyd (later Granville), Walter Brown, and H. M. Holloway. Although they actively took part in the academic sessions, their banquet reservations were denied by the event organizer. In response, Lorch and his associates appealed to both the AMS and MAA to implement anti-discrimination regulations. While formal bylaws remained unchanged, policies prohibiting discrimination were subsequently established and rigorously applied.
Personal Background
Boyd entered into marriage with Reverend Gamaliel Mansfield Collins in 1961; their union ended in divorce six years later, in 1967. She remarried in 1970 to realtor Edward V. Granville. The couple moved to Tyler, Texas, in 1983. Following Edward’s death, she moved back to Washington, D.C. in 2010 to retire, frequently confronting prevailing gender stereotypes within the mathematical community.
Granville passed away on June 27, 2023, at her residence in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the age of 99.
Her personal archives are preserved within the Special Collections of Smith College, having been donated by Granville herself in 2015.
Accolades and Distinctions
In 1989, Granville was bestowed with an honorary doctorate from Smith College, marking the first occasion an American institution awarded such a degree to an African-American woman mathematician.
She held the Sam A. Lindsey Chair at the University of Texas at Tyler from 1990 to 1991.
The National Academy of Engineering recognized Granville’s contributions in 1998. The next year, she was included in the United States National Academy of Sciences’ Portrait Collection highlighting African-Americans in Science.
The Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal, the highest honor conferred by Yale Graduate School Alumni Association, was awarded to her in 2000.
On February 25, 2001, the Virginia state senate proclaimed "African-American Scientist and Inventor Day" to honor her achievements.
Spelman College granted her an honorary degree in 2006.
In 2016, she was named one of "four giants of women's contributions to science and technology" by New Relic’s Mount Codemore initiative.
Mathematically Gifted & Black recognized her as a Black History Month Honoree in 2019.
See also
- Euphemia Haynes, an African-American woman who earned a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1943.
Further reading
- The Lives We Lead: Evelyn Boyd Granville '45, an interview conducted by Smith alumnae association
External links
- Oral history video excerpts of Evelyn Granville at The National Visionary Leadership Project
- Evelyn Boyd Granville Papers housed in the Sophia Smith Collection, SSC-MS-00747, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
- 1924 births
- 2023 deaths
- American computer scientists
- American women academics
- 20th-century African-American academics
- 20th-century American academics
- African-American women academics
- American women computer scientists
- California State University, Los Angeles faculty
- University of Texas at Tyler faculty
- IBM employees
- Smith College alumni
- Yale University alumni
- 20th-century American mathematicians
- 20th-century American scientists
- 20th-century American women scientists
- 20th-century American women mathematicians
- Dunbar High School (Washington, D.C.) alumni
- 20th-century African-American women
- 21st-century African-American academics
- 21st-century American academics
- 21st-century African-American women
- Mathematicians from Washington, D.C.