Dorte Olesen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dorte Marianne Olesen (born 1948) is a Danish mathematician. In 1988 at Roskilde University, she became the first Danish woman to be appointed a full professor of mathematics. She has also played a leading role in the development of education and research networks, both in Denmark and at the European level.[1][2]
Born on 8 January 1948 in Hillerød, she was the daughter of the medical specialist and academic Knud Henning Olesen (1920–2007) and the physician Irene Mariane Pedersen (1919–2004). After matriculating from Sortedam Gymnasium in Copenhagen, following in her parents¨footsteps she began to read medicine at Copenhagen University, hoping to become a biophysicist. As this was not possible, she studied mathematics instead, graduating in 1973 and receiving the university's gold medal for a dissertation on operator algebra. She went on to Odense University where she received a Lic.Scient (equivalent to a PhD) in mathematics in 1975.
She also went on study trips to Philadelphia (1971–72) and Marseille (1974 & 1979) and was a guest professor at Berkeley (1984–85).[3]
When she was 23, Olesen married one of her assistant teachers at Copenhagen University, Gert Kjærgaard Pedersen (1940–2004), who became a prominent mathematics professor. Together they had three children, Just (born 1976), Oluf (1980) and Cecilie (1984).[1]
