Sophie Germain Presented by: Terri-Ann, Allison and Caroline

Who Was Sophie Germain? Sophie was born in Paris on April 1, 1776 and died at the age of 55, on June 27, 1831, after a battle with breast cancer. She came from a middle-class family, her father being a merchant and later he became director of the Bank of France

Who Was Sophie Germain? The year of her birth the American Revolution began and when she turned 13 the French Revolution began in her country. Just like the era she was born into, Sophie also had the spirit of revolution within her and fought hard to overcome social prejudices

Who Was Sophie Germain? While Sophie was restricted to her home due to the danger resulting from the revolts in Paris she spent time in her father’s library After stumbling across a book about the legend of Archimedes death, who was speared to death because of his love for math, Sophie’s interest in the subject began.

Who Was Sophie Germain? She began to teach herself mathematics in her father’s library This interest was inappropriate for females during this time and her parents did many things to deter her and make studying difficult

Who Was Sophie Germain? In addition, because of her social location (middle class) it was also inappropriate for her to casually learn math for that was reserved for aristocratic women Despite her parents disapproval and societal discrimination, she did not give up and initially studied differential calculus without a tutor

Who Was Sophie Germain? In 1794 the Ecole Polytechnique was founded in Paris to train mathematicians and scientists At the time, Sophie was 18 and because she was a woman she was not allowed to enroll Somehow she was able to get the lecture notes from several math courses taught by prominent mathematicians and studied from them

Who Was Sophie Germain? Sophie had a special interest in the teachings of a mathematician, J. L. Lagrange One day she submitted a mathematical analysis paper to him using a name of one of his former male students

Who Was Sophie Germain? Lagrange was so impressed with the paper he read and wanted to meet the student who wrote it He was even more impressed after discovering the author was female Lagrange recognized her abilities, offered to be her mentor and became her entry point in the male-dominated realm of math and science

Who Was Sophie Germain? In 1804, Sophie started corresponding with the most famous mathematician of the time, Carl Friedrich Gauss Intrigued with his work in number theory, she disguised her identity and sent him results of her work in the subject

Who Was Sophie Germain? Impressed with her work, Gauss guided her research for 4 years Sophie's most important contribution in the field of math occurred after making contact with mathematician Legendre She proved one of math's most mysterious and unresolved problems at the time: Fermat’s last theorem

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References prime Women Scientist Sophie Germain Prime Swift, Amanda (1995) ermain.htm