Who Is Emmy Noether?

Albert Einstein called her the most “significant” and “creative” female mathematician of all time, and others of her contemporaries were inclined to drop the modification by sex. Emmy Noether was an influential German mathematician known for her contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics. She revolutionized the theories of rings, fields, and algebras. She also invented a theorem that united with magisterial concision two conceptual pillars of physics: symmetry in nature and the universal laws of conservation. It explains the fundamental connection between symmetry and conservation laws in physics. Some consider Noether’s theorem, as it is now called, as important as Einstein’s theory of relativity; it undergirds much of today’s vanguard research in physics, including the hunt for the almighty Higgs boson. Yet Noether herself remains utterly unknown, not only to the general public, but to many members of the scientific community as well.

Her father was a distinguished math professor at the universities of Heidelberg and Erlangen, and her brother Fritz won some renown as an applied mathematician.” (agnesscott.edu) Emmy, as she was known throughout her life, started out studying English, French and piano — subjects more socially acceptable for a girl — but her interests soon turned to math. The University of Erlangen, where her brother studied, wouldn’t accept girls to take any classes. She simply audited all the courses, and ended up doing so well on her final exams that she was granted the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree. “In 1915 Einstein published his general theory of relativity.”