American Logician and Number Theorist 1919–1985

Julia Bowman Robinson, the second daughter of Helen Hall and Ralph Bowers Bowman, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on December 8, 1919. When Robinson was 9 years old, she contracted scarlet fever and a year later developed rheumatic fever. Julia's father hired a private teacher to work with her three mornings a week and, in one year, she had completed the state-required materials for the fifth through eighth grades. It was during this time that she first became fascinated with mathematics.

Early Mathematics Honors

By the time Robinson entered her junior year of high school, she was the only girl taking mathematics courses and advanced science courses such as physics. In 1936, when she graduated* from high school, she was awarded honors in mathematics and science, including the Bausch-Lomb medal for all-around excellence in science.

*When Julia Robinson graduated from high school...