Sophie Germain

The Statue of Remembrance for Sophie

Sophie Germain was born on April 1,1776 and passed away on June 27, 1831. She was born in Paris, France. The year she was born was when the American Revolution began. Then thirteen years later, the French Revolution began. She was only thirteen and her parents kept her isolated from the turmoils of the French Revolution. She became bored with staying home. She had a private tutor for helping her study.

Since she stayed locked away from the world because of danger, she went to her father's library and started reading books. Then she came across a math book of how a mathematician had died while reading a geometry book. Because of reading that book, she wanted to learn mathematics. Her parents found out and they didn't like that idea because women weren't allowed to learn those types of subjects. So her parents tried to make her stop by taking her candles away for reading in the night, and turning off the firelight, and even taking her clothes away. But either way, she found a way on doing what she wanted. So her parents just gave up and appreciated the fact that she had a thing for math.

The Inspiring Mathematician

In 1794, when Sophie turned 18, the Ecole Polytechnique was founded in Paris. It was an academy founded to train mathematicians and scientists for the country. Women were not allowed to enroll in the academy. But Sophie was the first women to be enrolled because she could keep up with the lecture notes for several of the courses and study from them. And she reached this far all on her own.

Sophie died at the age of 55 on June 27, 1831, after suffering from breast cancer. Shortly before this problem, one of her earliest mentors had convinced the University of Gottengen to give Sophie an honorary degree. She died before receiving the degree.

Sophie Germain was a revolutionary. She battled against the social prejudices of the era and the lack of formal training in order to become a celebrated mathematician. She is better known for her work in number theory, but her work in the theory of elasticity is also very important to math.