Gillian Thornley

{{short description|New Zealand mathematician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2017}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name =

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| image =

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Gillian Brown

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1940}}

| birth_place = Murchison, New Zealand

| death_date =

| death_place =

| resting_place =

| resting_place_coordinates =

| other_names =

| citizenship =

| nationality =

| fields = Mathematics, differential geometry

| workplaces =

| patrons =

| alma_mater =

| thesis_title =

| thesis_url =

| thesis_year =

| doctoral_advisor =

| academic_advisors =

| doctoral_students =

| notable_students =

| known_for =

| author_abbrev_bot =

| author_abbrev_zoo =

| influences =

| influenced =

| awards =

| signature =

| signature_alt =

| website =

| footnotes =

| spouse =

| children =

}}

Gillian Thornley is a retired New Zealander mathematician.

Gillian Brown Thornley was born in 1940 in Murchison, New Zealand. Living on the family dairy farm,{{Cite journal|last=Hendy|first=Mike|title=Gillian Thornley|url=https://nzmathsoc.org.nz/downloads/profiles/NZMSprofile71_Gillian_Thornley.pdf?t=1263167969|journal=New Zealand Mathematical Society Newsletter |issue=71 |access-date=20 November 2024}} she won a scholarship to board at Nelson College for Girls and in 1958 enrolled at Canterbury University where she graduated with a masters with first class honours in mathematics in 1963. At Canterbury she was a contemporary of Beatrice Tinsley.{{Cite book|title=Women Sum It Up: Biographical Sketches of Women Mathematicians |first1=Diane|last1=Farquhar |first2=Mary-Rose |last2=Lynn |date=1989|publisher=Hazard Press|isbn=0908790066|location=Christchurch, N.Z.|pages=72–73|oclc=23448330}}

==Academic career==

Thornley received her PhD in metric differential geometry from the University of Toronto in 1963. She returned first to Canterbury then took up a two-year lectureship in Trinidad at the University of The West Indies. She then moved back to New Zealand (Nelson and Wellington), combining part-time positions in both academia and the public service (where she worked on economic modelling) with caring for her two young children. She joined the mathematics institute at Massey University, Palmerston North, remaining there from 1980 to her retirement in 2006.{{Cite web|url=https://nzmathsoc.org.nz|title=NZMS newsletter, Dec 2005}} In 1989 she was elected first woman President of the New Zealand Mathematical Society. Thornley presented at the 1990 Conference of the International Mathematics Organisation on the experience of women mathematicians in academia.{{Cite book|title=Complexities : women in mathematics|title-link= Complexities: Women in Mathematics |date=2005|publisher=Princeton University Press|editor1=Case, Bettye Anne|editor1-link=Bettye Anne Case|editor2=Leggett, Anne M.|editor2-link=Anne M. Leggett|isbn=1400880165|location=Princeton, N.J.|pages=140|oclc=949753960}} She also co-authored an article in 2001 on the experience of mathematics doctoral students in New Zealand.{{Cite journal|last1=Morton|first1=Margaret|last2=Thornley|first2=Gillian|date=2001-06-01|title=Experiences of Doctoral Students in Mathematics in New Zealand|journal=Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education|volume=26|issue=2|pages=113–126|doi=10.1080/02602930020018953|s2cid=145702939 |issn=0260-2938|hdl=2292/4995|hdl-access=free}}

The Gillian Thornley Award was inaugurated by the New Zealand Mathematical Society in her honour in 2020.{{Cite web |title=Awards and Prizes |url=https://nzmathsoc.org.nz/?awards |access-date=2024-10-16 |website=New Zealand Mathematical Society}}