Emmy Noether

Mathematician

Emmy Noether was a mathematician born on March 23rd, 1882, in Erlangen, Germany. After graduating high school, she attended the University of Erlangen where her father was a mathematics professor. As a woman, she was not allowed to take classes, but the university granted her permission to audit classes. After two years of auditing, she took the exam that would permit her to be a doctoral student in mathematics and passed. Shortly after she began another five years of study and became the first woman to have a second degree in mathematics. She then wanted to obtain a teaching career at Erlangen, however, they had a policy restricting women from teaching. Instead, she worked with her father and began her research/other studies. During this time World War I had just begun, and she longed for peace once again. Throughout the conflicts of war, Noether’s work was beginning to become noticed by Felix Klein and David Hilbert. After declining their offers multiple times, Noether opted to move to the United States where she started teaching at Bryn Mawr College, an all-women’s college. By the time she died in 1935, she published over 40 papers and will forever be known for her contributions to the field of mathematics including the identification of algebra patterns.

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