Elinor Ostrom, Nobel Prize, Economic Sciences, 2009 (Press_Conference_KVA-33_cropped.jpg)
WOMEN AND ADVERSITY
ELINOR “LIN” AWAN OSTROM
2009
FIRST WOMAN TO WIN A NOBEL PRIZE IN ECONOMIC SCIENCES
Elinor “Lin” Awan Ostrom was of the era when women were discouraged from pursuing an education or a career other than teaching, nursing or secretarial. Ostrom was also discouraged from taking trigonometry in high school because her algebra and geometry grades weren’t stellar. As a result, she was rejected as a Ph.D. student in economics because she didn’t have math courses. She chose to major in political science instead. When she applied for jobs, employers thought she wanted a secretarial position. A law firm finally hired her as an assistant personnel manager, the first woman at that firm who wasn’t in a secretarial position.
In 2009 Ostrom was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in economic sciences, more accurately, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
Through her studies, she proved that abiding by certain factors, depletion of natural resources can be prevented. This is possible when communities come together and self-govern and make rules that prevent depletion of resources. She challenged previous theories and is considered one of the most influential economists of the 20th century. Her theory is explained in a link below under “More Information.”
The Bloomington School of Political Economy at Indiana University in Bloomington is associated with the work Elinor and Vincente Ostrom conducted.
Bio
- 1933 – Born August 7 in Los Angeles
- An only child
- Her mother, Leah Hopkins, was a musician
- Her father, Adrian Awan, was a set designer
- Her parents divorced when she was young
- She was a competitive swimmer
Education
- 1951 -Graduated from Beverly Hills High School
- 1954 – Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in political science, UCLA
- 1962 – Master of Arts degree in political science, UCLA
- 1965 – Ph.D. in political science, UCLA
Personal Life
- 1953 -Married classmate, Charles Scott
- The couple divorced. No specific date is known
- 1963 – Married Vincent Ostrom
Career
- Research began at UCLA on how communities manage shared natural resources
- 1960s – Worked at General Radio, Cambridge, Massachusetts when she and her first husband, Charles Scott, moved there
- 1966 – Assistant professor, Indiana University, Bloomington
- 1969 -Associate Professor, Indiana University
- 1973 – Elinor and Vincent created Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University
- 1974 – Full professor, IU
- 1991-2012 – Arthur F. Bentley Chair of Political Science, IU
- Affiliated with Arizona State University, Tempe
- 2012 – June 12, Elinor Ostrom passed away in Bloomington, Indiana at the age of 78.
- 2012 – June 29, Vincent Ostrom survived his wife by only 17 days and passed away in Bloomington at the age of 92.
More Information
www.youtube.com/watch?v=642rm3AKlhc
www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2009/ostrom/facts
www.tutor2u.net/economics/reference/what-were-elinor-ostroms-key-contributions-to-economic-thought#:~:text=The%20theory%20of%20common%2Dpool,resources%20in%20a%20sustainable%20way.
My ebooks available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com:
Honoring 23 Black Women, Recognizing 23 Notable Mothers, Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists
