Grace Elizabeth Bates (13 August 1914 – 19 November 1996) was an American mathematician and one of few women in the United States to be granted a Ph.D. in mathematics in the 1940s.
[1] Throughout her own education, Bates overcame obstructions to her pursuit of knowledge, opening the way for future women learners.
[4] During her studies, Bates petitioned several times to take more advanced math courses than were typically available to female students.
[2]: 80 Initially interested in geometry, Bates instead decided to pursue algebra and work under Reinhold Baer.
Consequently, Bates obtained an assistantship at the Berkeley Statistical Laboratory and spend several summers working with Neyman in the 1950s.