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Photo by Joe Munroe, 1960.

OLGA TAUSSKY-TODD (1906-1995)

AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 1979-1980 EDITED BY MARY TERRALL

ARCHIVES

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYPasadena, California

Subject area Mathematics Abstract

This autobiographical essay was written for the Archives in 1979-80 by Olga Taussky-Todd, emeritus professor of mathematics. In it she recalls her childhood and early education in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Vienna and Linz; her early interest in mathematics; her studies at the University of Vienna; and her interest in algebraic number theory (PhD 1930). Recollections of her thesis advisor Philip Furtwängler, Hans Hahn, Kurt Gödel, Karl Menger; her appointment in Göttingen as one of the editors of Hilbert’s collected works; colleagues at Göttingen; friendship with Emmy Noether. She spends the 1934-35 academic year at Bryn Mawr, with Emmy Noether, then moves to Girton College, Cambridge. The next year she moves to London University; meets and marries fellow mathematician John (Jack) Todd. After World War II breaks out, they move to Queens University in Belfast, then back to London; their war work; their move to U.S.A. in 1947. Her interest in matrix theory; their stay at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton. Their appointment at the Institute for Numerical Analysis, UCLA. Return to London. Their work at the National Bureau of Standards, in Washington, in early 1950s. 1957 appointments at

http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Todd_O

Caltech: John Todd as professor of mathematics, Olga Taussky-Todd as research associate. Recollections of her mathematical research, her colleagues, and her work with students at Caltech.

Ed. note: This essay was reprinted in Albers and Alexanderson (eds.), Mathematical People: Profiles and Interviews (Boston: Birkhauser, 1985).

Administrative information Access The autobiographical memoir is unrestricted. Copyright Copyright has been assigned to the California Institute of Technology © 1980,

2003. All requests for permission to publish or quote from the transcript must be submitted in writing to the University Archivist.

Preferred citation Taussky-Todd, Olga. Edited by Mary Terrall. Pasadena, California, 1980. Oral

History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. Retrieved [supply date of retrieval] from the World Wide Web: http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Todd_O

Contact information Archives, California Institute of Technology

Mail Code 015A-74 Pasadena, CA 91125 Phone: (626)395-2704 Fax: (626)793-8756 Email: archives@caltech.edu

Graphics and content © 2003 California Institute of Technology.

http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Todd_O

Portrait of John and Olga Taussky-Todd by Sylvia Posner, 1985.