Phyllis Fox

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American mathematician and computer scientist (1923–2017)

title: "Phyllis Fox" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1923-births", "2017-deaths", "21st-century-american-women", "american-computer-scientists", "american-artificial-intelligence-researchers", "massachusetts-institute-of-technology-school-of-science-alumni", "lisp-(programming-language)-people", "programming-language-designers", "wellesley-college-alumni", "university-of-colorado-boulder-alumni", "new-jersey-institute-of-technology-faculty", "numerical-analysts", "american-women-computer-scientists", "american-women-mathematicians", "scientists-at-bell-labs", "mit-school-of-engineering-alumni", "fellows-of-the-american-association-for-the-advancement-of-science", "american-women-academics", "scientists-from-denver"] description: "American mathematician and computer scientist (1923–2017)" topic_path: "technology/computing" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllis_Fox" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American mathematician and computer scientist (1923–2017) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox scientist"]

Field	Value
name	Phyllis Ann Fox
birth_date
birth_place	Denver, Colorado, U.S.
death_date
work_institutions	General Electric
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Newark College of Engineering
Bell Labs
alma_mater	Wellesley College
University of Colorado Boulder
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
doctoral_advisor	Chia-Chiao Lin
thesis_title	On the use of coordinate perturbations in the solution of physical problems
thesis_url	http://library.mit.edu/item/000692159
thesis_year	1954
known_for	DYNAMO (programming language)
LISP
PORT Mathematical Subroutine Library
::

Phyllis Ann Fox (March 13, 1923 – May 23, 2017) was an American mathematician, electrical engineer and computer scientist.{{Cite web | first = Thomas | last = Haigh | author-link = Phyllis Fox | title = Phyllis Fox | work = The History of Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing - Oral Histories | publisher = Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) | year = 2005 | url = http://history.siam.org/oralhistories/fox.htm | format = PDF | access-date = 12 May 2010}}

Early life and education

Fox was born on March 13, 1923, and raised in Colorado. She did her undergraduate studies at Wellesley College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics in 1944.

From 1944 until 1946 she worked for General Electric as an operator for their differential analyser project. She earned a second baccalaureate, a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1948. She then moved on to graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning an Master of Science in 1949 in electrical engineering, and a doctorate (Sc.D.) in mathematics in 1954 under the supervision of Chia-Chiao Lin. During this time, she also worked as an assistant on the Whirlwind project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under Jay Wright Forrester.

Later career

From 1954 to 1958, Fox worked on the numerical solution of partial differential equations on the Univac, for the Computing Center of the United States Atomic Energy Commission at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University. In 1958, following her husband, she returned to Jay Wright Forrester's system dynamics research group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she became part of the team that wrote the DYNAMO programming language. She then became a collaborator on the first LISP interpreter, and the principal author of the first LISP manual.{{cite web| last1 = McCarthy | first1 = J. | author-link = John McCarthy (computer scientist) | last2 = Brayton | first2 = R. | author2-link = Robert Brayton (computer scientist) | last3 = Edwards | first3 = D. | author3-link = Daniel Edwards (programmer) | last4 = Fox | first4 = P. | author4-link = Phyllis Fox | last5 = Hodes | first5 = L. | author5-link = Louis Hodes | last6 = Luckham | first6 = D. | author6-link = David Luckham | last7 = Maling | first7 = K. | author7-link = Klim Maling (programmer) | last8 = Park | first8 = D. | author8-link = David Park (computer scientist) | last9 = Russell | first9 = S. | author9-link = Steve Russell (computer scientist) | title = LISP I Programmer's Manual | place = Boston, Massachusetts | publisher = Artificial Intelligence Group, MIT Computation Center and Research Laboratory |date=March 1960 | url = http://history.siam.org/sup/Fox_1960_LISP.pdf | access-date= May 11, 2010}}

In 1963, she moved from Massachusetts Institute of Technology to the Newark College of Engineering, where she became a full professor in 1972. During this time, she also consulted for Bell Labs, where she moved in 1973 to work on a highly portable numerics library (PORT). She retired from Bell Labs in 1984.

Personal life and death

Fox married George Sternlieb. They moved to Short Hills, New Jersey in 1949. Fox died on May 23, 2017, at the age of 94.

Recognition

Fox was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1986.

References

(1991). "Who's who of American Women, 1991-1992". Marquis Who's Who.
"The History of Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing".
{{mathgenealogy
[http://history.siam.org/sup/Fox_resume_bio.pdf Resume and brief autobiography for Phyllis Fox], for Wellesley College Class of 1944 Record Book, January 1974, SIAM history website.
"Origin of System Dynamics".
(Fall 2017). "Alumnae Memorials". Wellesley College.
"Historic Fellows". American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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