Born Amalie Emmy Noether on March 23, 1882, in Erlangen, Germany. Her father, Max Noether was a professor of mathematics at the University of Erlangen. Her mother, Ida Amalia Kauffman came from a family of wealthy wholesale merchants. She was brought up learning the standard skills of cooking and housecleaning, though she later admitted she had little capacity for these activities later in her life. Her mother was a gifted pianist but Emmy didn't enjoy piano lessons and preferred dancing. Her true passion however was mathematics, however due to restrictions of the time, Emmy knew she couldn't become an academic like her father. She attended high school at the Municipal School for Higher Education of Daughters, in Erlangen, where she was trained to be a teacher. She graduated in 1900, at the age of 18 and was qualified to teach French and English at girls schools. Although a teaching career would've offered financial security, her love for mathematics proved to be too great. Emmy abandoned her teaching career and applied at the University of Erlangen, to observe lectures- she could only listen to lectures as women weren't allowed to enroll at the university.
Emmy studied mathematics at University of Erlangen for 2 years between 1900-02. In 1903, she went to Nuremberg and passed the entrance exam allowing her to study mathematics but not enroll at any German university. Emmy chose to go for a semester at the University of Gottingen, which was home to one of the most prestigious schools of mathematics in world. Some of the greatest mathematicians in history went to the University of Gottingen including, Carl Friedrich Gauss and Bernhard Riemann. Emmy also attended lectures given by, Hermann Minkowski, who taught Albert Einstein and David Hilbert, likely the 20th centurie's most brilliant mathematician.
In 1904, Emmy was delighted to hear that her hometown's university, Erlangen, had elected to allow women to enroll. She was accepted as a Ph.D student by the acclaimed mathematician, Paul Gordon, she was the only student he would ever accept as a Ph.D candidate. Gordon was known as a "King of Invariant Theory" and Emmy made unprecedented progress in the field. In 1907, when Emmy was 25, she became Doctor Noether and her degree was awarded summa cum laude, the highest distinction of a university. In 1908, Emmy was appointed as a mathematics lecturer at Erlangen, though it was unfortunately an unpaid position, this was quite common in Germany at the time. Her parents did what they could support their daughter, as her father in particular saw Emmy had great potential. But despite their support her life was plagued with financial struggles. While working as a lecturer, she became fascinated by the work David Hilbert had done at Gottingen; this was more abstract work than she had ever done before, but she was undaunted and began experimenting with Hilbert's methods.
Hilbert was acquainted with Emmy's research and like her father, saw she had great potential. At this point in his career, he was focused on physics, which he believed needed an overhaul by the best mathematicians. In 1913-14, Emmy corresponded with Hilbert and his colleague, Felix Klein, discussing Einstein's relativity theory. Hilbert invited Emmy to become a lecturer at Gottingen, in 1915. Unfortunately this elicited backlash from other faculties, who protested against the idea of a woman teaching men; this was probably exacerbated by Germany being at war in 1914-18. Too appease her denouncers, she agreed to take a position as an unpaid lecturer; her father continued to financially support her, though her mother had died in 1915.
Perhaps the crowning moment of Emmy career, came in 1918. That year she published Noether's Theorem, the idea had sprung from the dilemma Hilbert and Einstein had about how general relativity appeared to break the laws of the conservation of energy. Emmy had discovered that for every symmetry in the universe, there is a conservation law and vice versa. Her theorem also showed that if matter and gravity are a unified force, rather than separate forces, the law of conservation isn't broken. An example of this would be that time invariance is caused by the law of the conservation of energy. This theorem was groundbreaking and forever changed the face of physics. In 1919, Emmy turned her full focus to pure mathematics and became one of the preliminary architects of abstract algebra. Numerous concepts, formulas and objects were named after her.
Einstein himself became vocal about Gottingen's refusal to appoint Emmy as a lecturer, "After receiving Miss Noether's new paper, I once again feel that depriving her of a teaching job is a great injustice. I would like vigorous steps to be taken with the Ministry. If you do not think this is possible, then I will go the trouble of doing it myself." After WW1, as so many men had died or been severely wounded, a major shift in German society occurred and it became more accepted for women to have occupations that had formerly been taken by men. At the age of 37, Emmy finally became a tenured lecturer at Gottingen, but she still didn't receive any pay, as Germany had been slammed by debt after WW1. Emmy's father died two years later, leaving her a modest inheritance. It wasn't until she was 40, Emmy began to receive a salary.
In the early 1930's, Emmy's career was finally taking off and her name was growing in renown. She was invited to speak at many important mathematics conferences. In January 1933, everything changed, when Adolf Hitler came to power. Emmy who was Jewish, was dismissed from the university. Luckily she was able to secure a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and in October 1933, Emmy sailed across the Atlantic to begin working as a lecturer in the US. She taught at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton.
Emmy Noether's life was devoted to mathematics, she never married or had children. She was little concerned with her appearance and even less for social expectations. She spoke loudly and assertively, she was often blunt when she disagreed with someone and people who got into debates with her were often left feeling bruised. But on the flip side she was very considerate and selfless and always insured her Ph.D students received full credit for their work. Emmy Noether died on April 14, 1935, from surgical complications after she had a tumor removed from her pelvis, she was only 51. She was buried under the chapel of Bryn Mawr College's M. Carey Thomas Library.
Side notes:
Invariant theory- a branch of abstract algebra dealing with varieties of formulas such as vector spaces which effect how the formulas work and impact each other.
Relativity theory- the term usually relates to 2 related theories proposed by Einstein, general and special relativity, special relativity is applied to all physical phenomena that occurs with the absence of gravity.
Conservation of energy- the energy of interacting organisms or particles in a certain environment remain constant this known as the energy of motion.
Abstract algebra- a set of advanced algebra (the study of mathematical symbols & their uses) topics that deal with more complex number systems.
https://www.famousscientists.org/emmy-noether/
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Women in Science, Medicine and Mathematics
Non-FictionWomen who have contributed to the fields of science, medicine and math. They paved the way for future generations, made groundbreaking discoveries, many times while being outshone or downtrodden by their male counterparts.
