April 28, 1854 - August 23, 1923 Phoebe Sarah Marks was born in
Portsea, England in 1854. She changed her first name to Hertha
when she was a teenager. After passing the Cambridge University
Examination for Women with honors in English and mathematics,
she attended Girton College at Cambridge University, the first
residential college for women in England. Charlotte Scott also
attended Girton at this time, and she and Marks helped form a
mathematics club to "find problems for the club to solve and
'discuss any mathematical question that may arise'" . Marks
passed the Mathematical Tripos in 1880, although with a
disappointing Third Class performance. Because Cambridge did not
confer degrees to women at this time, just certificates, she
successfully completed an external examination and received a
B.Sc. degree from the University of London. From 1881 to 1883,
Marks worked as a private mathematics tutor, as well as tutoring
other subjects. In 1884 she invented a draftsman's device that
could be used for dividing