Math, In Women

[the-future-now-deactivated20170]

These are amazing — and shockingly accurate. Did you know there’s a “Bechdel test” for female scientist biographies?

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[curiosamathematica]

A Breakthrough by Maryna Viazovska Leading to the Long Awaited Solutions for the Densest Packing Problem in Dimensions 8 and 24

Maryna Viazovska has solved the densest packing problem in dimension eight. Subsequently, Maryna Viazovska with Henry Cohn, Steve Miller, Abhinav Kumar, and Danilo Radchenko solved the densest packing problem in 24 dimensions.

[mathinwomen]

Katherine G. Johnson

The Basics: - was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the USA’s highest civilian honor)   - took all the maths courses offered during her time at West Virginia State College The Mathematics: - calculated the trajectory for the Apollo 11 flight to the moon - co-authored 26 papers, the most notable as well as a tool for finding others can be found on her NASA page

The Other Stuff: - worked as a teacher in maths and french before becoming dissatisfied and going to work at NASA  - was one of the first students (and the only woman) to desegregate the graduate program at  West Virginia University 

[mathinwomen]

Charlotte Scott

The Basics: - born 8 June 1858 and died 10 November 1931 in England - was supervised by Arthur Cayley The Mathematics: - placed eighth in the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos Exam   - published An Introductory Account of Certain Modern Ideas and Methods in Plane Analytical Geometry, which is out of copyright so is available in full here

The Other Stuff: - head of mathematics and one of the founders of Bryn Mawr College, the university where Noether spent her time in the US. Scott also supervised many female PhD students there  - first woman to serve on the American Mathematical Society’s council 

[blackscientistsandinventors]

Taraji P. Henson Will Topline Film Based on Story of Black Women Mathematicians Who Worked for NASA During the Space Race

Last fall, it was announced that author Margot Lee Shetterly’s book, “Hidden Figures,” which hasn’t actually been published yet (but will be this year via HarperCollins), was been optioned for Ted Melfi to direct (he’s the director of 2014’s acclaimed dramedy “St. Vincent,” which starred Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, and Naomi Watts. Terrence Howard played a supporting role in the film, which was Melfi’s feature directorial debut). 

 Shetterly’s “Hidden Figures” tells the untold true story of the African American women mathematicians - Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, Kathryn Peddrew, Sue Wilder, Eunice Smith and Barbara Holley - who worked at NASA during the Civil Rights era. The book tells their story through the personal accounts of 4 specific women that then-NASA staffers referred to as “the colored computers.” Shetterly, whose father was one of the first African American engineers employed by NASA, is a journalist.

 … 

At the time of the initial announcement, it was reported that Oprah Winfrey, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Taraji P. Henson were all on the producer’s short list of actresses that were being considered for starring roles in the film. Today, the studio has confirmed that Ms. Henson has now been cast to headline the drama, starring as mathematician Katherine Johnson. The actresses who will play of her colleagues will be announced at a later date

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[mathinwomen]

This sounds amazing

[mathinwomen]

Maria Agnesi

The Basics: - born 16 May 1718 and died 9 January 1799 in Milan  - presented a discourse in latin defending the higher education of women as a child The Mathematics: - considered a child prodigy by mastering latin, greek and several modern languages by age 9 - wrote Analytical institutions, known for its wide range of material from algebra to analysis

The Other Stuff: - eldest of 21 children - engaged in many charitable works including opening up her home as a hospital

[mathinwomen]

Emily Riehl

The Basics: - is an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University - obtained her PhD at University of Chicago before working as a post-doc at Harvard The Mathematics: - works on topics in category theory related to homotopy theory, an introduction to this topic written by Riehl can be found here - has written TWO monographs, a forthcoming introductory text on category theory for the graduate course she is teaching and another on categorical homotopy theory The Other Stuff: - is in a numberphile video on the Stable Marriage Problem - started playing AFL while visiting Sydney as a PhD student and now is a member of USA Freedom, the USA women’s AFL team

[mathinwomen]

Sophie Germain

The Basics: - born 1 April 1776 and died 27 June 1831 in Paris - submitted ‘written observations’ based on university notes she had obtained to Lagrange who later became her mentor The Mathematics: - won a contest by the Paris Academy of Science, on her third attempt (her’s was originally the only submission) who describing the ‘mathematical theory of the vibration of an elastic surface’  - produced a theorem which proved many cases of Fermat’s Last Theorem   Her approach was later utilised by L. E. Dickson to prove Fermat's Last Theorem for (odd) primes less than 1700 The Other Stuff: - the Sophie Germain Prize is conferred each year by the Paris Academy of Sciences - has a type of prime number named after her

[mathinwomen]

This blog is partially inspired by the book ‘Scientists Anonymous’ by Particia Fara. Whilst not particularly scientifically in depth it provides interesting stories about women in science and some of the difficulties they faced. This makes it a great read for young teens. It also introduced me to the work that many women did in translating and editing academic texts, such is the case of  Émilie du Châtelet

[mathinwomen]

Euphemia Haynes

The Basics: - born 11 September 1890 and died 25 July 1980 in Washington, D.C. - first African-American woman to gain a PhD in mathematics The Mathematics: - her thesis, on conditional logic and point set theory, was entitled “Determination of sets of independent conditions characterizing certain special cases of symmetric correspondences”  - taught extensively in Washington DC’s public school system, both primary and secondary, even published a book on the development of mathematical school exams The Other Stuff: - first woman to chair the DC School Board - was an active member of many community groups and left a generous trust to her alma mater, the Catholic University of America

[mathinwomen]

Emmy Noether

The Basics: - born 3 March 1882 in Germany and died 14 April 1935 in the US - worked closely with David Hilbert in Göttingen

The Mathematics: - worked widely including differential invariants in the calculus of variations as well as many aspects of abstract algebra - objects are called Noetherian if they satisfy the corresponding ascending chain condition. This is due to her study of the ascending chain condition being credited as the first to truly highlight the importance of this condition. 

The Other Stuff: - called a “creative mathematical genius" by Albert Einstein  - had to leave her post at Göttingen after Hitler removed almost all Jewish university faculty 

[mathinwomen]

Émilie du Châtelet

The Basics: - born 17 December 1706 in Paris and died 10 September 1749 in Lunéville - full name was Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Châtelet The Mathematics: - most famous for her translation of Newton’s Principia Mathematica into french which along with her extensive commentary is still the standard french text but this was not published until after her death - demonstrated that energy was distinct from momentum (Emmy Noether proved the related fact that there is no ‘potential momentum’ when the initial state is symmetric in generalized coordinates) The Other Stuff: - was the first woman to have a scientific paper published by the Paris Academy - had many affairs including with Voltaire, whom she was arguing against in the Paris Academy paper 

[mathinwomen]

Sofia Kovalevskaya

The Basics: - born 15 January 1850 in Moscow, and died 10 February 1891 in Stockholm - supervised by Karl Weierstrass The Mathematics: - received her doctorate from University of Göttingen on the basis on three papers she presented as her thesis (bypassing the usual attendance requirements etc.) - one of these papers, on partial differential equations (PDEs), contained a generalisation of a proof by Chauchy, now called the Chauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem 

The Other Stuff: - married a paleontology student who moved to germany with her so she could study - wrote a book called Nihilist Girl

[mathinwomen]

Grete Hermann

The Basics: - born March 2, 1901 in Bremen and died April 15, 1984 - student of Emmy Noether and Leonard Nelson (philosopher/physicist)

The Maths: - disproved Von Neumann’s no-hidden-variable theorem (although this result was largely ignored). It is argued that an awareness of Hermann’s result would have greatly affected the subsequent development of quantum mechanics     - published the first algorithm for computing primary decompositions for polynomial rings The Other Stuff: - was member of the Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund, which was an underground movement against the nazis founded by Leonard Nelson. This is not surprising given that Emmy Noether, her doctoral supervisor, had to leave Germany during Hilter’s reign.