Emmy Noether, the Math Pioneer Who Faced Down Sexism and the Nazis 17/07/2021 Emmy Noether made significant contributions to theoretical mathematics. Photo: Konrad Jacobs, Erlangen/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA
When Albert Einstein wrote an obituary for Emmy Noether in 1935, he described her as a “creative mathematical genius” who – despite “unselfish, significant work over a period of many years” – did not get the recognition she deserved.
Noether made groundbreaking contributions to mathematics at a time when women were barred from academia and when Jewish people like herself faced persecution in Nazi Germany, where she lived.
The year 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of Noether’s landmark paper on ring theory, a branch of theoretical mathematics that is still fascinating and challenging mathematicians like me today.
A rare woman in mathematics
Emmy Noether earned a doctorate in mathematics in 1909, but women were not allowed to work as professors at that time in Germany. Mathematical Assoc, iabutit onat ofth Aatme triimcae, v ia WikimediaCommons
Noether was born in 1882 in Erlangen, Germany. Her father was a math professor, but it must have seemed unlikely to a young Noether that she would follow in his footsteps. At the time, few women took classes at German universities, and when they did they could only audit them. Teaching at a university was out of the question.
But in 1903 - a few years after Noether graduated from a high school for girls - Erlangen University started to let women enroll. Noether signed up and eventually earned her doctorate in mathematics there.