21 JANUARY 1966, Page 13

The Menace of the 'Sixties

SIR,—Your entertaining correspondent Mr. A. D. Mac Dougall was unlucky in one of his sallies against the ladies, when he asked derisively : 'Has anyone ever heard of a great woman mathematician?'

The late Eric Bell in his standard work Men and Mathematics, which ranged from Zeno to Poincare, found a place for Sonja Kowaleski (1850- 1891), and among eminent living mathematicians Dr. Mary Cartwright, FRS, of Girton, is well known.

• S. C. BUTLER Lochalsh, Ashbrook Lane. St. Ippolyts, Hitchin, Herts.