Early Life
Hoover was born on June 19, 1926 in Irvington, New Jersey. Her family lived in South Orange, New Jersey and her father was a dentist and her mother was a teacher. She had a younger brother who died from polio at the age of five. She loved swimming, sailing, canoeing, and was interested in science at an early age. According to one source, she read the biography of Marie Curie which suggested to her that she could succeed in a scientific field despite the prevailing ideas about gender roles at the time. Hoover attended Wellesley College where she studied classical and medieval philosophy and history. She graduated from Wellesley in 1948 with honors, earning a bachelors degree, and she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and was honored as a Durant Scholar. She received a Ph.D. degree from Yale University in philosophy and foundations of mathematics in 1951.
Read more about this topic: Erna Schneider Hoover
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