Cathleen Synge Morawetz is a mathematician. Morawetz's research was mainly in the study of the partial differential equations governing fluid flow, particularly those of mixed type occurring in transonic flow. She is Professor Emerita at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at the New York University, where she has also served as director from 1984 to 1988. She was awarded National Medal of Science in 1998. Cathleen Morawetz was born on May 5, 1923, in Toronto, Canada. she graduated from the University of Toronto in 1945 and went on to receive her master's degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She earned her Ph.D. at New York University, with a thesis on the stability of a spherical implosion. In December 1998, President William Clinton presented Cathleen Morawetz with a National Medal of Science, the nation's highest science honor. She was the first woman to receive the medal for work in mathematics. Morawetz was cited for "pioneering advances in partial differential equations and wave propagation resulting in application to aerodynamics, acoustics, and optics."