Gertrude Cutchin

Gertrude Cutchin Burgess (March 9, 1883 - July 5, 1950) was an American student who received media attention beginning in 1901 for her proposed solution to the geometry problem of angle trisection, which she was quoted as claiming was "the key to perpetual motion," and further that she had "the secret" and hoped to have a machine completed based on her discovery. It is uncertain if any such machine was ever constructed, but Cutchin's angle trisection rules were quickly dismissed by experts who examined the claims and press interest seems to have fizzled out soon after.

Copyrighted Solution

 * &mdash; Class A, XXe, No. 1585; copies of the solution were later sold for $1 through Burgess Short-Hand and Business College, 219 Cardinal Ave., St. Louis, Mo.