Alice Bache Gould | |
|---|---|
 As a young graduate | |
| Born | January 5, 1868 Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | July 25, 1953 (aged 85) |
| Alma mater | Bryn Mawr College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Newnham College, Cambridge, University of Chicago |
| Known for | Columbus' "crew list" (tripulantes) |
| Awards | Cross of Alfonso the Wise (1924) Election to the Spanish Royal Academy of History (1942) Order of Isabella the Catholic (1952) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Historian |
| Doctoral advisor | E. H. Moore in mathematics, but she never completed the thesis or received the degree. |
Alice Bache Gould (January 5, 1868 – July 25, 1953) was an American mathematician,[1][2] philanthropist, and historian, who spent much of her time in Puerto Rico, South America and Spain.[1] She was impelled in that direction by her family's sometime residence in Argentina during her childhood, where her father held a responsible position as an astronomer.
Sent home for her education, Bache Gould trained as a mathematician and undertook graduate studies in mathematics, teaching for a time at Carleton College, Minnesota.[3] Enrolled at MIT, she failed to complete her thesis and obtain the PhD, due to poor health. Finding work as a mathematician subsequently proved difficult.[1]
Being fluent in Spanish, she began subsequently to follow her true interest in Spanish-American studies, working for several years in the educational system of Puerto Rico. She abandoned mathematics for history and began to do research on the colonization of the Americas by Spain. World War I found her doing research in Madrid, where she promptly volunteered for war work at the American Embassy there, and, sent home, in the United States. Subsequently, she found her way back to Spain, where she remained, doing research and publishing articles and a book on Agassiz. When the Spanish Civil War started, she retired to the United States, returning when it was over for the peak of her career.
As a historian, her studies of Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella I of Castile resulted in the most complete biographical account of Columbus' crew.[4] In 1942, Gould became the only female corresponding member of Real Academia de la Historia and was awarded the Order of Isabella the Catholic (in 1952).[4] Previously she had received other honors.
Gould never married or had any children. She had close relationships with a few female friends, carried on mainly by correspondence. There is no evidence of any sexual involvement with either sex. One friend joked about the low-cut dresses she wore to Puerto Rico. As a researcher in Spain she was a highly respected aging unmarried lady with greying hair.[5]
- ^ a b c Kent, Deborah (March 2012). "Alice Bache Gould: mathematician in search of war work, 1918". BSHM Bulletin: Journal of the British Society for the History of Mathematics. 27 (1): 38–49. doi:10.1080/17498430.2012.628477. S2CID 120017916.
- ^ O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Alice Bache Gould", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- ^ "Alice Bache Gould papers". Collection Guides. Massachusetts Historical Society. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
ABGwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Prieto, Laura (January 13, 2012). "Guest Post: Uncovering a Passionate Friendship". The Beehive. Massachusetts Historical Society.