Emmy Noether

Emmy Noether (March 23 1882 – April 14 1935) was one of the most talented mathematicians of the early 20th century, with penetrating insights that she used to develop elegant abstractions which she formalized beautifully.

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March 23 - 1882 - April 14 - 1935 - Mathematician - 20th century

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She was born Amalie Noether in Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany. Her father, Max Noether, was a distinguished mathematician and a professor at Erlangen. She did not show

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Erlangen - Bavaria - Germany - Max Noether

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any early precocity at mathematics — as a teenager she was more interested in music and dancing.

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Although Erlangen did not allow women to enroll, Emmy was able to audit classes. When Erlangen permitted women to enrol in 1904, Emmy enrolled as a mathematics student. She received her doctorate in 1907 under Paul Gordan, and rapidly built a world-wide reputation. She went to Göttigen in 1915, but the University of Göttingen refused to let her teach, and her colleague, David Hilbert, had to advertise her courses in the university's prospectus under his own name. A long controversy ensued, with her opponents asking what the country's soldiers would think when they returned home and were expected to learn at the feet of a woman. Allowing her on the faculty would also mean letting her vote in the academic senate. Said Hilbert, "I do not see that the sex of the candidate is against her admission as a Privatdozent. After all, the university senate is not a bathhouse." She was finally admitted to the faculty in 1919.

Related Topics:
1904 - Mathematics - 1907 - Paul Gordan - 1915 - University of Göttingen - David Hilbert - Privatdozent - 1919

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Edmund Landau declined to describe her as the daughter of Max Noether; rather "Max Noether was the father of Emmy Noether. Emmy is the origin of coordinates in the Noether family."

Related Topics:
Edmund Landau - Origin of coordinates

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A Jew, Noether was forced to flee Nazi Germany in 1933 and joined the faculty at Bryn Mawr in the United States. She died at Bryn Mawr in 1935.

Related Topics:
Jew - Nazi - 1933 - Bryn Mawr - United States

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