Next, we’ll introduce a brief biography of Emmy Noether, one of the genius women who surpassed many of her contemporates but did not receive the recognition they deserved in her day and that Albert Einstein has publicly expressed admiration for her on several occasions.
Famous physicists Leon M. Lederman and Christopher T. others, Emmy Noether was just a woman, which prevented her from holding a prestigious position.
“Pure mathematics is, in its own way, the poetry of logical ideas. “Albert Einstein on Emmy Noether.
Emmy Noether’s work completely changed the landscape of physics and mathematics. She is known as the mother of modern algebra, and some place her in the most important mathematical position in history.
Despite this, for most of her life, she faced exclusion and segregation, either because she was a woman or because she was Jewish. Perhaps the world was not prepared to recognize a woman’s accomplishments; Sexist society and anti-Semitism were still deeply rooted in its time.
The truth is that it is no wonder that Emmy Noether chose mathematics since she was a young age, as she came from a family that had been producing notable characters in this science for three generations, however, no one has managed to get as far as she has. .
Emmy Noether was born in Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany, on March 23, 1882, her father, Max Noether, was a mathematician and teacher, suffered polio at age 14, managed to recover partially, but always struggled. with one of his legs. Her father was also a man who firmly believed in women’s equality.
Emmy’s mother was Ida Amalia Kaufmann, daughter of wealthy merchants and, like her husband, had a very advanced mentality for her time, had three more siblings, all younger than her, is said to be short-sighted and has speech problems. called sigmatism, a difficulty similar to ceceo. Anyway, in her surroundings, they realized that she had impressive intelligence from an early age.
Emmy Noether received a great education and, when the time came, she decided that her vocation was to study living languages, however, at the same time, she began to look at the subject taught to her by her father and discovered that her true passion was different: mathematics.
The problem for Noether was that at the time, women were not allowed to go to college.
The possibility of admitting women was considered, but the discussion ended with a radical approach: if women were allowed to enter the institution, chaos would reign.
Therefore, Emmy Noether had to be content to be able to attend different classes as a listener, provided that the teachers gave her written permission. Despite the restrictions, in 1903 he passed the final exam.
Noether continued to develop his work and in 1908 he was allowed to teach at the Institute of Mathematics at the University of Erlangen, on the sole condition that he could not receive a salary for it, with the help of his father accepted and remained there until 1915.
In 1915, the famous mathematician David Hilbert invited her to teach at the University of Gottingen. One of the professors protested, saying, “What will our soldiers think when they return to college and discover that they need to learn to put themselves at a woman’s feet?”I arrange your admission as a teacher. After all, are we a university, not a bathroom?
Thus, despite his great skill and passion for mathematics, Noether seemed to encounter many obstacles in his path, obstacles that answered only the sexist questions of the dominant society.
It was not easy to be a woman in a world of men, but in the scientific field things became more violent, yet Noether continued to fight for his true passion: mathematics.
Step by step and year after year, Emmy Noether has been advancing her work to finally become one of the most important mathematics in the world, for several years she had to work without receiving a salary in return, until in 1923 she was named as a kind of assistant to Hilbert and finally got her paid job.
With Nazism coming to power, Noether was removed from office and soon had to flee to the United States, in this country he has found a much more conducive environment to expose his ideas and be valued for his work. free of misogyny, but not to the same degree as in their country of origin.
Although several awards are present in Emmy Noether’s biography, it was only after his death that he received the true distinction that he deserved his work. He died on April 14, 1935, in Pennsylvania, United States, Albert Einstein left him a farewell message; In addition, asteroid 7001 and a crater on the other side of the moon bear its name.