Ida Busbridge

Ida Winifred Busbridge (1908–1988) was a British mathematician who taught at the University of Oxford from 1935 until 1970. She was the first woman to be appointed to an Oxford fellowship in mathematics.

Life and career

Ida Busbridge was educated at Christ's Hospital then studied mathematics at Royal Holloway College, London, where in 1929 she was the highest-ranked student in the final examinations for mathematics for the whole of the University of London. After obtaining a master's degree with distinction from London, she moved to Oxford in 1935 to teach mathematics to the undergraduates of five women's colleges.^[1] During the Second World War, she also helped with the education of physicists and engineers at Oxford; her workload was especially great not only because other mathematicians at the university were called up for special war service but also because women formed a higher percentage of the undergraduate population during the war years.^[1][2] She was appointed to a Fellowship of St Hugh's College, Oxford, in 1946 – she was the first women to be appointed to a college fellowship in mathematics.^[1][2] In 1962, she was awarded a Doctor of Science degree by Oxford. She was also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.^[1]

Busbridge's work included integral equations and radiative transfer. She was highly regarded as a lecturer and tutor, attending to her students' educational and personal needs. She retired from Oxford in 1970, and died in 1988.^[1]

References

Further reading

• Friedman, E. Clare (2014). Strawberries and Nightingales with Buz: The Pioneering Mathematical Life of Ida Busbridge (1908–1988). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1499693898.