“In the judgment of the most competent living mathematicians, Fraulein Noether was the most significant mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began.” — Albert Einstein
Collaboration is vital in modern day science. From the Higgs Boson to artificial intelligence to vaccines. All would not be possible without the thousands of scientists around the world working together. And the twentieth century was no different with celebrated names such as Lagrange, Jacobi, Hilbert, all coming to mind when we think of the many physicists and mathematicians who guided Einstein to discover the theory that describes the world around us. The Theory of General Relativity.
Yet, among the list of celebrated figures above, one woman remains forgotten. A woman who Einstein described as “the greatest woman mathematician that ever lived”. A woman, whom without, our understanding of the world around us would cease to exist. Amalie Emmy Noether.
Known for her many discoveries in different fields of mathematics, such as Galois Theory, Topology and Mathematical Rings, it was her renowned theorem known as ‘Noether’s Theorem ’ that guided Einstein and other Theoretical Physicists towards the most important scientific discoveries of our age.
Born in 1882 in the small-town Erlangen, Germany Noether was raised by her father, Max Noether, a mathematics professor at the University of Erlangen and was introduced to mathematics at a young age. Despite showing great ability, mathematics was not perceived to be an appropriate career path for women at the time and, pressured by family and friends, Noether instead initially trained to become a teacher in both French and English. Not satisfied with this career, she decided to leave her training, and at the age of 22, decided to pursuit her dream and study mathematics at her father’s university.
After completing her bachelor’s degree and PhD in mathematics, Noether hoped to continue her academic career and become a professor at the University of Erlangen. Yet, despite her abilities, Noether was denied this opportunity, with professors stating “What will our soldiers think when they return to the university and find that they are required to learn at the feet of a woman?”.
Despite these cruel opinions, Noether continued to follow her passion and fight for her right to teach. Her father, who would purposely take ‘leave of absence’, gave Emmy the opportunity to teach in his place and she was eventually given a small role in the university to teach in the University of Gottingham in 1915 as an assistant, without pay. Only in 1923 did Noether start earning a small salary from the university, a fraction of her colleague’s wages. She continued to teach throughout her life.
Throughout her time teaching at her the University of Erlangen, her talent was beginning to become noticed. In 1915 at the University of Gottingham, two mathematicians, David Hilbert and Felix Klein, were puzzled by a paradox they both encountered while studying gravity and curved spacetime. Unable to overcome this, and, hearing of Noether’s abilities, they asked for Noether’s assistance. Upon arriving at Gottingham, Noether not only solved the paradox they encountered but also derived the theorem we call today ‘Noether’s Theorem’; For every symmetry of a physical system, there is a corresponding conservation law’. One everyday example of this would be the conservation of energy of a closed system and time invariance. Noether not only solved Hilbert and Klein’s problem, but discovered one of the most revolutionary theorems of the twentieth century and provided us with a vital step in our understanding of the world around us.
When teaching at the University of Gottingham, World War II began, and, being of the Jewish faith, Noether was forced to flee Germany, moving to America. She never returned to her home country again. Regardless of the upheaval, turmoil and danger of the time, she continued to teach for the remainder of her life until her death in1935 at the age of 53. Noether was a true revolutionary of her time, defying the norms of society and inspiring many women of her time. And remains a true hero to many women, including myself, today.
It’s difficult to comprehend how different the world would be today without the courageous women throughout history such as Emmy Noether. What would the world be like if Emmy Noether hadn’t decided to pursuit her dreams and study mathematics? Or if Rosalind Franklin hadn’t discovered the structure of DNA? If Marie Curie hadn’t studied plutonium? We will never know but can only be thankful of the overlooked women and disregarded scientists that have guided us throughout time, and have shaped the world we live in today.
References
Kimberling, Clark (1981), “Emmy Noether and Her Influence”
Alexandrov, Pavel S. (1981). “In Memory of Emmy Noether
Noether, Emmy; Brewer, James W; Smith, Martha K (1981). Emmy Noether: a tribute to her life and work
Noether, Gottfried E. (1987), Grinstein, L.S.; Campbell, P.J. (eds.), Women of Mathematics
http://thebeautyofmathmatics.blogspot.com/2012/12/emmy-noether_11.html
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