Anna Wheeler: American Mathematics Pioneer

Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler was a pioneer of linear algebra in infinite dimensions, a field that later became the foundation of functional analysis. Her journey to academic recognition spanned three continents, two marriages, and a constant struggle against prejudice toward women in academia.

Daughter of Swedish Immigrants

Anna Johnson was born in 1883 in the small town of Calliope, Iowa. Her parents, Andrew Gustav Johnson and Amelia Friberg, emigrated to America from the parish of Lyrestad in Sweden’s Västergötland province. Her father was a furniture dealer and ran a funeral home, while her mother devoted herself to running the household. The family moved to Akron when Anna was nine, where she began her education at a private school.

In 1899, sixteen-year-old Anna joined her older sister Esther at the University of South Dakota. Both attended many of the same classes, allowing Anna to quickly catch up to her older sibling.

Anna’s mathematical talent became apparent during her undergraduate studies, which she completed in 1903. She immediately pursued a master’s degree at the University of Iowa, writing a thesis on extending Galois theory to linear differential equations.

The master’s degree, earned in 1904, did not satisfy the young researcher’s ambitions. She spent the next year at Radcliffe College, earning a second diploma under renowned mathematicians Maxime Bôcher and William Fogg Osgood. These two master’s degrees in just two years showcased her remarkable abilities and extraordinary diligence. Anna Johnson was just beginning to build her extraordinary academic career.

Göttingen, Love, and a Mysterious Husband

The year 1905 marked a turning point in the young mathematician’s life. An Alice Freeman Palmer Fellowship from Wellesley College opened the doors to the University of Göttingen, then the world’s mathematical capital. Under giants such as David Hilbert, Felix Klein, Hermann Minkowski, and Karl Schwarzschild, Anna immersed herself in the latest scientific developments. These German professors were conducting research that would revolutionize 20th-century mathematics.

While in Göttingen, Anna began a romance with Alexander Pell, a former professor from the University of South Dakota. Pell came to Germany, and the couple married in July 1907. This trip was a serious risk for the groom, as his real name was Sergei Degayev and he was a former Russian double agent—a secret that followed their marriage for years.

After the wedding, the Pells returned to Vermillion, South Dakota, where Anna taught function theory and differential equations. In 1908, she returned to Göttingen to complete her doctorate, but a conflict with Hilbert dashed those plans.

The nature of the dispute remains unclear, but its consequences forced Anna to seek a new advisor. Eventually, she moved with her husband to Chicago, where, under E.H. Moore, she completed a dissertation on biorthogonal systems of functions and their applications in the theory of integral equations.

A Woman in a World of Mathematical Prejudice

Her 1909 Ph.D. should have opened the doors to an academic career. The reality was brutal. Every mathematics department she applied to treated her with barely concealed hostility.

In a letter to a friend, she confessed a bitter truth: she dreamed of a position at a prestigious university in Wisconsin or Illinois, but prevailing animosity toward women meant that even a less qualified man was preferred. These words perfectly reflect the spirit of an era in which gender mattered more than ability.

Luck was not on the Pells’ side. In 1911, Alexander suffered a stroke, and Anna had to take over his classes at the Armour Institute for the remainder of the semester.

This sudden responsibility demonstrated her teaching and organizational talent in a crisis. She then accepted a position at Mount Holyoke College, where she taught for seven years. As a women’s college, Mount Holyoke offered her career development opportunities unavailable elsewhere.

The breakthrough came in 1918, when Anna became an associate professor at Bryn Mawr College. Three years later, she headed the mathematics department, and in 1925 she became a full professor. That same year, she married fellow professor Arthur Wheeler, who soon moved to Princeton University. Anna commuted to Bryn Mawr, combining teaching with active participation in Princeton’s scientific life.

Pioneer and Mentor for the Next Generation

The year 1927 became historic in American mathematics when Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler delivered a lecture at the American Mathematical Society Colloquium. She was the first woman to receive this honor, a formal recognition of her scientific achievements in a community that had denied her a place for years. Her work on linear algebra in infinite dimensions paved the way for the later development of functional analysis.

Wheeler used her position to support other women in science. In 1933, she was instrumental in bringing the brilliant German mathematician Emmy Noether, expelled from Göttingen by the authorities, to Bryn Mawr. The two scholars worked together fruitfully for two years, forming a remarkable scientific tandem. Noether’s sudden death in 1935 ended the collaboration, but Wheeler continued her mission to support talented women researchers.

Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler taught at Bryn Mawr until her retirement in 1948. She died in 1966 after a stroke, leaving a lasting legacy in the history of mathematics.