Summary: The Smithsonian Blog has posted short biographies of five brilliant women mathematicians that everyone should know.
1. Hypatia (ca. 350 or 370 - 415 or 416)
One of the first female mathematicians. Last known member of the Library of Alexandria. Followed her father, Theon, to study math and astronomy.
2. Sophie Germain (1776 - 1831)
Taught herself Latin and Greek to learn math and Geometry. First woman to win a prize from the French Academy of Sciences for her work on a theory of elasticity.
3. Ada Lovelace (1815 - 1852)
Worked with Charles Babbage on his Analytical Engine which is considered one of the first computers. She wrote the world's first computer program.
4. Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850 - 1891)
Moved to Germany to be more involved in the sciences and was privately tutored. Received a doctorate for writing on partial differential equations, Abelian integrals, and Saturn's rings. First woman (in the region around Stockholm) to receive full professorship.
5. Emmy Noather (1882 - 1935)
Developed many mathematical foundations used in Einstein's general theory of relativity. Received a PhD for a dissertation on a branch of abstract algebra.
Additional video:
Ada Lovelace
Don't forget about Olga!! :-)
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Aleksandrovna_Ladyzhenskaya
She seems pretty cool! I didn't actually pick the women, and these are actually in addition to another ten that were listed in the author's original post. Maybe Olga is on that list.
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