Ada Lovelace Day - Sophie Germain
For all my many friends, both on lj and not, who are mathematicians, scientists, engineers, or technologists of some flavor, I give you my entry for Ada Lovelace Day.
Marie-Sophie Germain was born April 1, 1776 in Paris. Her parents were successful middle class merchants, and encouraged the discussion of politics and philosophy as young Sophie was growing up during the French Revolution. However, they were concerned when she turned to study of mathematics and tried to keep her from her studies, believing that such a subject was not for women. When she persevered by studying under her covers at night with hidden candles for light, they relented.
Germain was never able to obtain formal schooling in mathematics due to the policies of the day, but instead studied mathematics on her own. She obtained lecture notes from friends, and began correspondences with a number of famous mathematicians of the day, including Lagrange, Legendre and Gauss. While she was able to accomplish much this way, her lack of formal training may have caused some of her problems in receiving recognition.
Germain began working in number theory, but soon turned to elasticity. She was the only entrant for a prize offered by the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1811, but did not win. The prize was offered again, two years later, and this time she received an honorable mention for the improvement in her work. By 1815 she had found a solution and received the prize in spite of errors in the method and proof. Here her lack of rigorous training may have led to the errors in question. She tried for many years to correct her mistakes, but never did manage to obtain recognition for her work. Others, building on her work, made great strides in elasticity. Their names are listed at the base of the Eiffel Tower as their work led to its construction, but Germain is not among them.
Germain turned her attention back to number theory, and here she made great strides toward a proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. She proved the theorem for all primes less than 100 and for several special cases. She also outlined a general strategy for proving the theorem. This strategy, while not ultimately fruitful, laid groundwork for many other mathematicians' work on the theorem. Most importantly, she proved the theorem for an infinite class of primes now called Germain primes.
Germain was never able to attend a university and earn a degree, and passed away before receiving an honorary degree from the University of Göttingen. She was supported by her family throughout her life, since at that time she could not obtain a professional position. In spite of this she published a number of papers and was acknowledged for her contributions by a number of leading mathematicians.
Marie-Sophie Germain was born April 1, 1776 in Paris. Her parents were successful middle class merchants, and encouraged the discussion of politics and philosophy as young Sophie was growing up during the French Revolution. However, they were concerned when she turned to study of mathematics and tried to keep her from her studies, believing that such a subject was not for women. When she persevered by studying under her covers at night with hidden candles for light, they relented.
Germain was never able to obtain formal schooling in mathematics due to the policies of the day, but instead studied mathematics on her own. She obtained lecture notes from friends, and began correspondences with a number of famous mathematicians of the day, including Lagrange, Legendre and Gauss. While she was able to accomplish much this way, her lack of formal training may have caused some of her problems in receiving recognition.
Germain began working in number theory, but soon turned to elasticity. She was the only entrant for a prize offered by the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1811, but did not win. The prize was offered again, two years later, and this time she received an honorable mention for the improvement in her work. By 1815 she had found a solution and received the prize in spite of errors in the method and proof. Here her lack of rigorous training may have led to the errors in question. She tried for many years to correct her mistakes, but never did manage to obtain recognition for her work. Others, building on her work, made great strides in elasticity. Their names are listed at the base of the Eiffel Tower as their work led to its construction, but Germain is not among them.
Germain turned her attention back to number theory, and here she made great strides toward a proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. She proved the theorem for all primes less than 100 and for several special cases. She also outlined a general strategy for proving the theorem. This strategy, while not ultimately fruitful, laid groundwork for many other mathematicians' work on the theorem. Most importantly, she proved the theorem for an infinite class of primes now called Germain primes.
Germain was never able to attend a university and earn a degree, and passed away before receiving an honorary degree from the University of Göttingen. She was supported by her family throughout her life, since at that time she could not obtain a professional position. In spite of this she published a number of papers and was acknowledged for her contributions by a number of leading mathematicians.