Horadam was born in
Dewsbury,
Yorkshire. She read mathematics at
Girton College, Cambridge. Then, while doing wartime service by day for
Rolls-Royce performing
stress–strain analysis of
jet engines, she took night classes in engineering at the
University of London, earning first-class honours there. She moved to Australia by herself in 1949, becoming a lecturer at the
University of New England. There, she married mathematician Alwyn Horadam and raised three children, persuading the university to update their maternity policies so that (unusually for the time) she could keep her position as a lecturer. She completed a doctorate and became a senior lecturer in 1965, retired in 1983, and was named a fellow of the university in 1995. Her daughter
Kathy Horadam, also became a mathematician. ==Mathematics==