Page 10 - The Clare Connection_Winter 2020 Flipbook

RESIDENT
PROFILE
Luise Kappe: Reflections on
a Career as a Mathematician
Luise with several of her Ph.D.
students in the late 1990s.
“If I can help more females to
get involved in mathematics
and accepted in the field,
then I’ve done my job.”
A s a female in the male-dominated field of mathematics, Clare resident
Luise Kappe faced her fair share of challenges. But her unexpected passion for
the subject served as her driving force for more than 50 years in the field.
Born in Germany before World War II, Luise grew up with a greater interest in
physics and chemistry than in mathematics. The latter she found boring, in fact.
But when she studied at the University of Erlangen to become a high school
teacher and had to declare which subject she wanted to teach, she decided on
physics and mathematics. This choice shaped not only her career, but her entire
life.
“Sometimes fate makes decisions for you,” Luise says. “I’ve always compared
mathematics to composing music. It’s a very creative process. You have your
freedom of what you put down based on logic.”
Upon graduation, Luise was invited to complete her Ph.D. at the University of
Freiburg. While there and working at a research institute, she met her husband,
a fellow mathematician. After receiving her Ph.D. in 1962 and getting married
shortly after, Luise and her husband immigrated to the United States.
The pair first served on the faculty at Ohio State University. Five years later, they
earned jobs at Binghamton University in Upstate New York, where they stayed
through retirement.
In the beginning of her career, Luise struggled to secure a tenured position, while
her male counterparts – and even her husband – more easily did so. Maternity
leave was essentially non-existent, and her workload was nearly double that of
her colleagues.
“At the time, I didn’t care too much,” Luise says. “In retrospect, you know that
something was not quite right.”
Yet females in mathematics became a focal point for Luise throughout her career,
largely by chance.
In 2000, Luise was asked to fill-in last minute for a talk about notable female
mathematicians at the 50th anniversary of the New York State Mathematics
Teacher Association. After rearranging her schedule and driving 2 hours to make
it for the lecture, she presented for an audience of one.
Since that meager showing for her talk, Luise has presented in three languages,
on six continents, and in 10 countries. She even gave it as the commencement
speech at her alma mater. In each presentation, she reflects on her few female
role models, ranging from Hypatia in AD 370 to Emmy Noether, one of the great
mathematicians of the 20th century.
Now, Luise hopes that she can also serve as inspiration of the limitless possibilities
within mathematics.
“If I can help more females to get involved in mathematics and accepted in the
field, then I’ve done my job,” she says.
Luise did more than inspire females in the mathematics field, too. She worked
closely with 14 Ph.D. students over the course of her career, assisting them with
their own research and propelling them toward their own careers.