Joséphine Guidy Wandja

Joséphine Guidy Wandja (born 1945, also Guidy-Wandja) is an Ivorian mathematician.[1] She is the first African woman with a PhD in mathematics.

Joséphine Guidy Wandja
Born
Joséphine Wandja

1945
Ivory Coast
Other namesJoséphine Guidy-Wandja
CitizenshipIvory Coast
OccupationMathematics lecturer
Academic background
EducationLycée Jules-Ferry
Alma materPierre and Marie Curie University
University of Abidjan
Academic work
DisciplineMathematics
InstitutionsParis Diderot University (1970-71)
University of Abidjan (1971-?)

Early life

She moved to France aged 14.[2] She attended the Lycée Jules-Ferry in Paris, and later the Pierre and Marie Curie University.[2] Her masters degree thesis was entitled Sous les courbes fermées convexes du plan et les théorémes des quatre sommets (Under closed convex curves in the plane and the theorem of four peaks).[3] Whilst working in Paris in the late 1960s she was advised by René Thom, Henri Cartan and Paulette Liberman.[4] She studied for a PhD at the University of Abidjan, becoming the first African woman to get a PhD in mathematics.[5][6]

Career

In 1969, she worked at the Lycée Jacques Amyot in Melun, before working for a year at the Paris Diderot University.[2] In 1971, she joined the University of Abidjan, as a mathematics lecturer.[2] In doing so, she became the first African female university mathematics professor.[6] In 1983, she was appointed the president of the International Committee on Mathematics in Developing Countries (ICOMIDC). The organisation was set up during the International Mathematical Union (IMU) conference in Warsaw, Poland, but without the IMU's knowledge.[7] In 1986, she wrote a humorous 24 page mathematical comic book Yao crack en maths.[5][8] In 1985, she organised an ICOMIDC conference in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.[7]

She is an officer of the Ivorian Order of Merit of National Education, and the French Ordre des Palmes Académiques.[2][6]

Publications
  • Guidy Wandja, Joséphine, Yao crack en maths (in French), Nouvelles Éditions africaines, 1985. ISBN 2723607356

References
  1. O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Joséphine Guidy-Wandja", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.
  2. "Interview de Joséphine Guidy Wandja". Amina. July 1986. pp. 50–53. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  3. Gerdes, Paulus; Djebbar, Ahmed (2011). History of Mathematics in Africa: 2000-2011. Lulu.com. ISBN 9781105141003. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  4. "AMINA Guidy Wandja". aflit.arts.uwa.edu.au. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
  5. Cassiau-Haurie, Christophe (20 February 2008). "Les femmes peinent à percer les bulles" (in French). Africultures. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  6. "Joséphine Guidy-Wandja". Committee for Women in Mathematics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  7. Lehto, Olli (6 December 2012). Mathematics Without Borders: A History of the International Mathematical Union. Springer Science+Business Media. p. 268. ISBN 9781461206132. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  8. "Littérature pour enfant : "Yao crack en math", une bande dessinée qui démystifie les maths". Abidijan.net (in French). 10 February 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
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