Autobiography of Olga Taussky-Todd

OLGA TAUSSKY-TODD
(1906-1995)
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, 1979-1980
EDITED BY
MARY TERRALL
Photo by Joe Munroe, 1960.
ARCHIVES
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Pasadena, California
Subject area
Mathematics
Abstract
This autobiographical essay was written for the Archives in 1979-80 by Olga
Taussky-Todd, emeritus professor of mathematics. In it she recalls her childhood
and early education in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in Vienna and Linz; her
early interest in mathematics; her studies at the University of Vienna; and her
interest in algebraic number theory (PhD 1930). Recollections of her thesis
advisor Philip Furtwängler, Hans Hahn, Kurt Gödel, Karl Menger; her
appointment in Göttingen as one of the editors of Hilbert’s collected works;
colleagues at Göttingen; friendship with Emmy Noether. She spends the 1934-35
academic year at Bryn Mawr, with Emmy Noether, then moves to Girton College,
Cambridge. The next year she moves to London University; meets and marries
fellow mathematician John (Jack) Todd. After World War II breaks out, they
move to Queens University in Belfast, then back to London; their war work; their
move to U.S.A. in 1947. Her interest in matrix theory; their stay at the Institute
for Advanced Study, in Princeton. Their appointment at the Institute for
Numerical Analysis, UCLA. Return to London. Their work at the National
Bureau of Standards, in Washington, in early 1950s. 1957 appointments at
http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Todd_O
Caltech: John Todd as professor of mathematics, Olga Taussky-Todd as research
associate. Recollections of her mathematical research, her colleagues, and her
work with students at Caltech.
Ed. note: This essay was reprinted in Albers and Alexanderson (eds.),
Mathematical People: Profiles and Interviews (Boston: Birkhauser, 1985).
Administrative information
Access
The autobiographical memoir is unrestricted.
Copyright
Copyright has been assigned to the California Institute of Technology © 1980,
2003. All requests for permission to publish or quote from the transcript must be
submitted in writing to the University Archivist.
Preferred citation
Taussky-Todd, Olga. Edited by Mary Terrall. Pasadena, California, 1980. Oral
History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. Retrieved [supply
date of retrieval] from the World Wide Web:
http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Todd_O
Contact information
Archives, California Institute of Technology
Mail Code 015A-74
Pasadena, CA 91125
Phone: (626)395-2704 Fax: (626)793-8756
Email: [email protected]
Graphics and content © 2003 California Institute of Technology.
http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Todd_O
Portrait of John and Olga Taussky-Todd by Sylvia Posner, 1985.
http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Todd_O