Evelyn Nelson (mathematician)

Evelyn Merle Nelson (November 25, 1943 – August 1, 1987), born Evelyn Merle Roden, was a Canadian mathematician. Nelson made contributions to the area of universal algebra with applications to theoretical computer science. She, along with Cecilia Krieger, is the namesake of the Krieger–Nelson Prize, awarded by the Canadian Mathematical Society for outstanding research by a female mathematician.

Nelson was born on November 25, 1943 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Her parents were immigrants from Russia in the 1920s. Nelson went to high school at Westdale Secondary School in Hamilton.

After spending two years at the University of Toronto, Nelson returned to Hamilton to study at McMaster University. She received her B.Sc in mathematics from McMaster in 1965, followed by an M.Sc in mathematics from McMaster in 1967. She succeeded in having her thesis work published in the Canadian Journal of Mathematics, also in 1967; the article was entitled "Finiteness of semigroups of operators in universal algebra".

Nelson completed her Ph.D in 1970. Her thesis was entitled "The lattice of equational classes of commutative semigroups", and the ideas also formed a journal paper published in the Canadian Journal of Mathematics.

From the completion of her Ph.D in 1970 until 1978, Nelson continued at McMaster, first as a post-doctoral researcher, and later, under the title of "research associate". In 1978, Nelson was appointed as an Associate Professor. Nelson served as the chair of the Unit of Computer Science at McMaster from 1982 until 1984. She was appointed as a full Professor in 1983.

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