Transcript Sophie Germaine - CUS :: Centre for Urban Schooling

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
URL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiG
OxGEbaik
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Germain_
prime
Women Scientist
http://www.womeninscience.co.uk/bios.html
Sophie Germain Prime
Swift, Amanda (1995)
http://www.agnesscott.edu/Lriddle/WOMEN/g
ermain.htm