Winifred Edgerton becomes the first American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics. She had completed all required credits and written an original thesis dealing "with geometric interpretations of multiple integrals and translations and relations of various systems of coordinates," though the board of trustees originally refused her application. After Edgerton personally talked to each trustee, the board unanimously agreed to confer her Ph.D., which she received from Columbia University with highest honors.

Today, many women are counted among the Ph.D. candidates in mathematics at Columbia University, as well as at universities across the country.

Author: Paul Koenig

References:
http://www.scottlan.edu/lriddle/women/merrill.htm

http://www.math.columbia.edu/people/gradstudents.shtml