Marcia Ascher

Marcia Alper Ascher (April 1935 – August 10, 2013) was an American mathematician, and a leader and pioneer in ethnomathematics.[1] She was a professor emerita of mathematics at Ithaca College.[2][3]

Life

Ascher was born in New York City, the daughter of a glazier and a secretary. She graduated from Queens College, City University of New York in 1956,[2] and married Robert Ascher, an anthropologist graduating from Queens College in the same year.[2][4]

They both became graduate students at the University of California, Los Angeles;[4] she completed a master's degree in 1960,[2] and moved with her husband to Ithaca, New York, where he had found a faculty position at Cornell University.[4]

She joined the mathematics department at Ithaca college in 1960, as one of the founders of the department.[1][3] She retired as full professor emerita in 1995.[1][2]

She died on August 10, 2013.[5][3]

Books

With her husband, Ascher co-authored the book Code of the Quipu: A Study in Media, Mathematics, and Culture (University of Michigan Press, 1981); it was republished in 1997 by Dover Books as Mathematics of the Incas: Code of the Quipu.[6] She was also the sole author of two more books on ethnomathematics, Ethnomathematics: A Multicultural View of Mathematical Ideas (Brooks/Cole, 1991)[7] and Mathematics Elsewhere: An Exploration of Ideas across Cultures (Princeton University Press, 2002).[8] The Basic Library List Committee of the Mathematical Association of America has recommended the inclusion of all three books in undergraduate mathematics libraries.[9] Mathematics Elsewhere won an honorable mention in the 2002 PROSE Awards in the mathematics and statistics category.[10]

References

1. Kelly, Marisa (July 24, 2013), "Professor Emerita Marcia Ascher Passes", Intercom, Ithaca College
2. "Ascher, Marcia 1935-", Encyclopedia.com, Cengage, retrieved 2020-03-05
3. "Marcia Alper Ascher", Ithaca Journal, June 12, 2013 – via Legacy.com
4. "Robert Ascher", Ithaca Journal, January 9, 2014 – via Legacy.com
5. In memoriam, Mathematical Association of America, retrieved 2020-03-05
6. Reviews of Code of the Quipu:
   • Sobel, Dava (August 4, 1981), "Science library", The New York Times
   • Thompson, Donald E. (November–December 1981), Archaeology, 34 (6): 72, JSTOR 41728213CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Urton, Gary (May 21, 1982), "Inca encodements", Science, New Series, 216 (4548): 869–870, doi:10.1126/science.216.4548.869, JSTOR 1687534, PMID 17819163
   • Restivo, Sal (June 1982), Isis, 73 (2): 296–297, doi:10.1086/352998, JSTOR 231703CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • LeBlanc, Catherine J. (October 1982), American Antiquity, 47 (4): 915, doi:10.2307/280304, JSTOR 280304CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Closs, M. P. (1983), Mathematical Reviews, MR 0646063CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Niles, Susan A. (November 1983), American Ethnologist, 10 (4): 814–815, doi:10.1525/ae.1983.10.4.02a00330, JSTOR 644085CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Tropp, Henry S. (July 1998), The Mathematical Gazette, 82 (494): 329–330, doi:10.2307/3620440, JSTOR 3620440CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
7. Reviews of Ethnomathematics:
   • Morrison, Philip (August 1991), "Logic and strategy", Scientific American, 265 (2): 108–110, JSTOR 24938694
   • Høyrup, Jens (1992), Mathematical Reviews, MR 1095781CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Kidd, Dawn H.; Lamb, Charles E. (January 1992), The Mathematics Teacher, 85 (1): 73, JSTOR 27967460CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Wilde, Carroll (March–April 1992), American Scientist, 80 (2): 200, JSTOR 29774627CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Swetz, Frank (September 1992), The College Mathematics Journal, 23 (4): 353–355, doi:10.2307/2686959, JSTOR 2686959CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Grabiner, Judith V. (March 1993), American Mathematical Monthly, 100 (3): 304–308, doi:10.2307/2324476, JSTOR 2324476CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Hersh, Reuben (March 1993), SIAM Review, 35 (1): 151–153, doi:10.1137/1035025, JSTOR 2132540CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Crump, Thomas (November 1994), American Ethnologist, 21 (4): 922–923, doi:10.1525/ae.1994.21.4.02a00380, JSTOR 646871CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Berken, Bernadette Anne (1996), "Review", Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal, 14, Article 13
   • Gouvêa, Fernando Q. (July 2009), "Review", MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America
8. Reviews of Mathematics Elsewhere:
   • Ninnemann, Olaf, zbMATH, Zbl 1115.01003CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • O'Connor, John (October 2002), "Mathematics off the main line", Nature, 419 (6907): 563, Bibcode:2002Natur.419..563O, doi:10.1038/419563a, S2CID 38250388
   • Selin, Helaine (November 1, 2002), "An inclusive perspective", Science, New Series, 298 (5595): 969–970, doi:10.1126/science.1077975, JSTOR 3832880, S2CID 178391682
   • Gilsdorf, Thomas E. (2003), Mathematical Reviews, MR 1918532CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Ashbacher, Charlie (January 2003), "Review", MAA Reviews, Mathematical Association of America
   • Davis, Philip J. (March 2003), "Is mathematics a unified whole?" (PDF), SIAM News, 36 (2)
   • Caniglia, Joanne (May 2003), Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 8 (9): 504, JSTOR 41181368CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Katz, Victor J. (May 2003), "Review" (PDF), Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 50 (5): 556–560
   • Crowe, Donald (September 2003), SIAM Review, 45 (3): 601–602, JSTOR 25054440CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Schrock, Connie S. (November 2003), The Mathematics Teacher, 96 (8): 605, JSTOR 20871446CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Leversha, Gerry (November 2003), The Mathematical Gazette, 87 (510): 600–602, doi:10.1017/S0025557200174091, JSTOR 3621326CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Zeitlyn, David (September 2004), Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 10 (3): 717, JSTOR 3803813CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Cohen, Marion D. (October 2004), American Mathematical Monthly, 111 (8): 735–738, doi:10.2307/4145063, JSTOR 4145063CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Seife, Charles (Winter 2003), The Wilson Quarterly, 27 (1): 124–125, JSTOR 40260723CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
   • Gosztonyi, Balázs (January 2006), "Review" (PDF), Mathematical Spectrum, 38 (2): 94–95
9. Code of the Quipu: A Study in Media, Mathematics, and Culture, Mathematical Association of America, retrieved 2020-03-05; see also Ashbacher (2003) and Gouvêa (2009)
10. "2002 Award Winners", PROSE Awards, Association of American Publishers