Special Collections Department
403 Parks Library
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-2140
MS 251
Rosalind B. Marimont (1921-2004)
Papers, 1954-1979, n.d.
Descriptive summary
| creator: | Marimont, Rosalind B. (1921-2004) |
| title: | Papers |
| dates: | 1954-1979, n.d. |
| extent: | 1.68 linear ft. (4 document boxes) |
| collection number: | MS 251 |
| repository: | Archives of Women in Science and Engineering, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University. |
Administrative information
| access: | Open for research |
| publication rights: | Consult Head, Special Collections Department |
| preferred citation: | Rosalind B. Marimont Papers, MS 251, Archives of Women in Science and Engineering, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library. |
Biographical note
Born February 3, 1921, Rosalind B. (Schwartz) Marimont obtained her B.A. (1942) in chemistry from Hunter College. She worked first as a physicist (1942-1960) for the National Bureau of Standards (National Institute of Standards and Technology), then as an independent investigator and mathematician (1960-1979) for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) until her retirement. As a physicist for the National Bureau of Standards, Marimont initially worked on electronics for the defense effort during World War II. She eventually moved on to work on the logical design of early digital computers of the 1950s. She is credited with work on the computer precedence algorithm and the synthesis of Boolean matrix and graph theory. As an independent investigator and mathematician for the NIH, Marimont researched topics such as human vision and speech. She was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). While at the NIH, Marimont became active in the fight for equal rights for women. She was a founder, active member and chairperson of Self-Help for Equal Rights (SHER), a professional organization within the NIH (founded in 1970) that provided support to women who had complaints of workplace discrimination. In addition, Marimont served on the NIH's EEO Goals Task Force, established by an EEO Officer to study the NIH's employment profile and submit suggestions for ensuring equal employment opportunities. In 1975, the task force submitted its FAIR [Feasible Allocation to Improve Representation] Report which outlined the systematic method for setting numeric goals for the employment of women and minorities which the task force had constructed. In 1973, Marimont filed a class-action lawsuit charging the NIH with sex discrimination. She had attempted to resolve this complaint through the EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) grievance system at NIH, but due to the length of time this procedure was taking she decided to file the lawsuit. Marimont had remained at the GS-13 level, which she had reached while working at the National Bureau of Standards, despite recommendations from her supervisor for a promotion. Even though she received a promotion around the time of filing the lawsuit, she continued with the suit in order to facilitate fair treatment of women working at the NIH. Six years after the lawsuit was filed, Judge Harold Green ruled in 1979 that the NIH create "fair and definite" promotion procedures for scientists and that the NIH should pay Marimont's attorney fees and retroactive wages. In retirement Marimont was critical of government statistics reporting on the annual number of smoking-related deaths. In 1998, she co-wrote an article ("Lies, damned lies, & 400,000 smoking-related deaths") with Robert A. Levy of the Cato Institute scrutinizing the number of deaths directly attributed to smoking. She married Martin Marimont and together they had two children: Rachael and David. Rosalind Marimont died March 15, 2004, at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Maryland. |
Collection description
The collection (1954-1979, n.d.) contains Marimont's research materials, primarily for the National Institute of Health (NIH), including papers and reports, a bibliography of Marimont's writings, conference materials, calculations, and correspondence, and SHER materials including meeting minutes, newsletters, correspondence, organizational notes, research, statistics, flyers and applications, and a report. The research files mainly include her research while at NIH, but also include publications from her time at the National Bureau of Standards and her work after retirement on smoking statistics. Also included is her NIH position description. Most of the correspondence in the research files relates to Marimont's research and publications, although professional organizations, SHER, the lawsuit and her interests in women's rights are included. Within the correspondence files are letters written to the American Mathematical Society, documenting her frustration at not being included in its Directory of Women Mathematicians and the discrimination this exclusion implied. Most of the equal employment files relate to the Self-Help for Equal Rights group within NIH, but also includes files related to Marimont's NIH grievance and includes the status of her complaint and others at NIH and a 1979 NIH personnel newsletter giving an update on the civil service reforms. The SHER materials include minutes, newsletters, notes, flyers, applications, and reports. Documents related to the EEO Goals Task Force include the final report, an explanation of the report and the NIH's assessment and response to the report. |
Organization
The collection is arranged in two series: |
Description of series
| Series 1 | Research Files |
1954-1979, n.d. |
| extent: | 0.84 linear feet |
|
| description: | This series contains research papers (primarily related to her work at the NIH), a bibliography of Marimont's writings, conference materials, calculations, correspondence, and other NIH related material. The series is arranged chronologically. |
|
Container list
Box |
Folder |
Title |
Dates |
1 |
1 |
"Computer Specifications for Triangular Model Calculations" |
1954 |
1 |
2 |
"Consistency of Precedence Matrices" |
1958-1960 |
1 |
3 |
"A New Method of Checking the Consistency of Precedence Matrices" |
1959 |
1 |
4 |
Applications Correspondence |
1960 |
1 |
5 |
"Applications of Graphs and Boolean Matrices to Computer Programming" |
1960 |
1 |
6 |
Precedence Matrices Correspondence |
1960 |
1 |
7 |
Correspondence |
1960-1962 |
1 |
8 |
Correspondence |
1960-1975 |
1 |
9 |
"Mathematical Study of Problems of Visual Perception" |
1961 |
1 |
10 |
Memo to Dr. R. B. Livingston: Analytical Expression for a Frequently Encountered Type of Curve |
1961 |
1 |
11 |
"Model for Visual Response to Contrast" |
1961-1976 |
1 |
12 |
Summary Report from the Laboratory of Neurobiology |
1962 |
1 |
13 |
D. H. Kelly Correspondence |
1962-1963 |
1 |
14 |
"Linearity and the Mach Phenomenon" |
1963 |
1 |
15 |
"The Mechanism of Nerve Excitation" |
1963-1964 |
1 |
16 |
Correspondence |
1963-1967 |
1 |
17 |
"Fuortes-Hodgkin Numerical Studies" |
1965 |
1 |
18 |
"Numerical Studies of the Fuortes-Hodgkin Limulus Model" |
1965 |
1 |
19 |
"Frequency Doubling" |
1967 |
1 |
20 |
"Mathematical Approach to Measurements on Embryonic Chick Lens" by Edward R. Wolpow and Rosalind B. Marimont |
1967 |
1 |
21 |
"Survey of Feasibility of Visible Speech Display as an Aid for the Deaf" |
1967-1969 |
1 |
22 |
"Surface Area of Embryonic Chick Lens" |
1968 |
1 |
23 |
"System Connectivity and Matrix Properties" Correspondence |
1968 |
1 |
24 |
"System Connectivity and Matrix Properties" Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics |
1968-1969 |
1 |
25 |
Correspondence |
1968-1972 |
2 |
1 |
"Cuttable and Cut-Reducible Matrices" |
1969 |
2 |
2 |
Project Report: "Pure and Applied Mathematics with Special Attention to Mathematical Models of Sensory Systems" |
1969-1970 |
2 |
3 |
Committee on the Interplay of Engineering with Biology and Medicine: Correspondence |
1970 |
2 |
4 |
Tullahoma Conference |
1971 |
2 |
6 |
Correspondence |
1971-1975 |
2 |
7 |
Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories |
1972 |
2 |
8 |
Modeling Laboratory |
1973 |
2 |
10 |
NIH Position Description |
1973 |
2 |
11 |
Calculations, Including Mann-Gurpide |
1974 |
2 |
12 |
"How Can the Deaf Learn to Speak? Some Fundamental Questions" |
1974 |
2 |
13 |
Stanford Conference |
1975 |
2 |
14 |
Planet Cluster Analysis, Shapiro |
1976 |
2 |
15 |
Correspondence |
1976-1978 |
2 |
16 |
"Connectivity, Combinatorics, and a Continuant" |
1978 |
2 |
17 |
"Nearest Neighbor Searches and the Curse of Dimensionality" |
1978 |
2 |
19 |
Differential Equations Course Notes |
n.d. |
2 |
20 |
Early Bibliography, Rosalind B. Marimont |
n.d. |
2 |
21 |
Graph Concepts |
n.d. |
2 |
22 |
"How Can the Deaf Learn to Speak? Some Fundamental Questions to be Answered" |
n.d. |
2 |
23 |
"The Use of MLAB, a Computer Monitoring System, in the Analysis of Molecular Hybridization Reactions," by Rosalind B. Marimont and Lawrence D. Grouse |
n.d. |
2 |
24 |
"Those 400,000 Smoking 'Victims' Live Longer Than the Rest of Us!" - Preliminary Report |
n.d. |
Description of series
| Series 2 | Equal Employment |
1969-1979, n.d. |
| extent: | 0.84 linear feet |
|
| description: | Most of the Equal Employment files relate to the Self-Help for Equal Rights group within NIH, but also includes files related to her NIH grievance and includes the status of her complaint and others at NIH and a 1979 NIH personnel newsletter giving an update on the civil service reforms. |
|
Container list
Box |
Folder |
Title |
Dates |
3 |
1 |
Equal Employment Opportunity |
1969 |
2 |
5 |
Other Cases (Equal Employment Opportunity grievances) |
1971-1972 |
3 |
2 |
SHER Minutes |
1972 |
3 |
3 |
SHER Committee |
1972 |
3 |
4 |
Affirmative Action Plans |
1972-1974 |
3 |
5-6 |
Goals Task Force Materials and Employment Statistics |
1972-1974, n.d. |
3 |
7-8 |
SHER Organizational Notes, Flyers, Applications |
1972-1976, n.d. |
3 |
9 |
SHER Newsletter |
1973 |
3 |
10 |
Finance Committee |
1973-1977 |
2 |
9 |
NIH Complaints Status |
1973 |
3 |
13 |
Women: Articles, Memorandum, Conference Proceedings |
1974 |
3 |
14 |
EEO Report, National Institutes of Health (Equal Employment Opportunity Newsletter) |
1974 |
3 |
15 |
Goals Task Force: Statistics, FAIR: Final Report, Preliminary Report, and Briefly Explained |
1974-1975 |
4 |
1 |
Goals Task Force Minutes, Official Memos |
1974-1976 |
4 |
2 |
Equal Employment Opportunities Statistics |
1974-1979 |
4 |
3 |
Equal Employment Opportunity: Goals Task Force Report Briefly Explained, Employment Statistics |
1975 |
4 |
4 |
Goals Task Force: NIH Response |
1975 |
4 |
5 |
Monitoring (Statistics, Matrixes) |
1975, n.d. |
4 |
6 |
SHER Correspondence |
1975 |
4 |
7 |
SHER Newsletter |
1975 |
4 |
8 |
Civil Rights Plan and Correspondence |
1976 |
4 |
9 |
"Feasible Allocation to Improve Representation" |
1976 |
4 |
10 |
SHER Newsletter |
1976 |
4 |
11 |
Step Module 6 |
1976 |
4 |
12 |
"Using FAIR to Set Numerical EEO Goals," from the Journal of the International Personnel Management Association |
1976 |
4 |
13 |
Equal Employment Opportunities Programs |
1977 |
4 |
14 |
SHER Newsletter |
1977 |
4 |
15 |
SHER Newsletter |
1978 |
4 |
16 |
SHER Newsletter |
1979 |
2 |
18 |
NIH Personnel Newsletter |
1979 |
4 |
17 |
Meeting (Unidentified) Attendance List |
n.d. |