Women in Science and Engineering at Yale (2020 Edition)

Charlotte Cynthia Barnum (1860–1934), Ph.D.

Charlotte Barnum was a mathematician who received her Ph.D. from Yale in 1895 and held a position as Computer in the Yale Observatory (1883–1887). While at Yale during much of World War I, she did editorial work in various departments. She served in a variety of positions in colleges, life insurance firms, and federal government service. She taught mathematics at Smith College before getting her Ph.D.. In 1901, she was at the U.S. Naval Observatory and the Coast and Geodetic Survey where “she applied her interest in discontinuous surface functions to the study of tides and currents” (Siegel and Finley, p. 213). Her research areas were in functions having lines or surfaces of discontinuity, tides and currents, annuities, and social legislation. She also served as Assistant Editor for Webster’s International Dictionary (1886–1900).