From Wartime Devastation To Academic Discrimination, Cecile DeWitt-Morette Overcame It All
“While Bryce was appointed to a regular tenured professorship, Cécile, though equally capable, was excluded because of archaic, unwritten nepotism rules that seemed designed to leave out women more than men. (A prime example of such exclusion was Nobel laureate Maria Goeppert Mayer, who completed much of her early work unpaid because her husband, Joseph Mayer, was on the faculty of Johns Hopkins, and she was therefore barred from a professorship there.) Despite her Ph.D., organizational talents, and stellar credentials, Cécile was assigned only to be a much lower paid lecturer. Many colleagues unceremoniously allotted Bryce credit for the work she completed; hence her eventual adoption of the hyphenated name DeWitt-Morette.”
When you have rules that treat men and women equally in theory, but the practical application of the rules leads to unequal results, that’s a classic example of a rule that doesn’t work. In the case of the towering figure in mathematical physics, Cecile DeWitt-Morette, that meant she was denied a professorship at a number of places, despite her more-than-sufficient qualifications and achievements. But the same woman who overcame the bombing of her hometown and the death of her family in World War II wouldn’t be stopped by institutional sexism, and went on to have a prolific and successful life and career for decades, including more than 40 years as a professor at UT-Austin.
Learn about and celebrate the life of Cecile DeWitt-Morette, who made it to 94 before passing away earlier this year. A fabulous story contributed by Paul Halpern!