Emmy Noether - Infinite Women

Born: 23 March 1882, Germany
Died: 14 April 1935
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Amalie Emmy Noether

Amalie Emmy Noether was a German mathematician who made many significant contributions to abstract algebra, despite facing anti-Semitism and being unable to get fair wages. Her Noether’s theorem is fundamental in mathematical physics and explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws, and has been called “one of the most important mathematical theorems ever proved in guiding the development of modern physics”. She was described by Pavel Alexandrov, Albert Einstein, Jean Dieudonné, Hermann Weyl and Norbert Wiener as the most important woman in the history of mathematics. As a leading mathematician of her time, she developed theories of rings, fields, and algebras.
Noether studied mathematics at the University of Erlangen, where her mathematician father lectured. After completing her doctorate in 1907, she was unable to get a teaching position (women were largely excluded from these jobs at the time) and worked at the Mathematical Institute of Erlangen for no pay for seven years. In 1915, she was invited to join the mathematics department at the University of Göttingen, an internationally acclaimed center for mathematical research. The philosophical faculty objected, however, and she spent four years lecturing under a male professor’s name. Noether’s work was the foundation for the second volume of Dutch mathematician B. L. van der Waerden’s influential 1931 textbook, Moderne Algebra. When she gave her plenary address at the 1932 International Congress of Mathematicians, her algebraic acumen was acknowledged around the world. Her role as “unofficial associate professor” at the University of Göttingen was taken from her in 1933 when Germany’s Nazi government dismissed Jews from university positions, leading her to move to the United States. There, she became a lecturer and researcher at Bryn Mawr College and the Institute for Advanced Study. In 1935, she underwent surgery for an ovarian cyst and died four days later at the age of 53.
Noether’s mathematical work has been divided into three periods. From 1908 to 1919, she contributed to the theories of algebraic invariants and number fields, including Noether’s theorem. From 1920 to 1926, she began work that “changed the face of [abstract] algebra”. In her influential 1921 paper Idealtheorie in Ringbereichen (Theory of Ideals in Ring Domains), Noether developed the theory of ideals in commutative rings into a tool with broad applications. Objects satisfying the ascending chain condition are named Noetherian in her honor. From 1927 to 1935, she published works on noncommutative algebras and hypercomplex numbers and united the representation theory of groups with the theory of modules and ideals. She was also known for her generosity with her ideas and is credited with several lines of research published by other mathematicians, even in areas far removed from her primary work.