Evelyn Slomka
Ellsworth High School
Calculus Class
12-5-00
MARIE SOPHIE GERMAIN
Marie Sophie Germain was born in Paris, on April 1, 1776 to Amroise-Francois and Marie Germain. As a middle class family, the Germains were rather wealthy. Her father was a Parisian silk merchant, who later became a director of the Bank of France. Born in the year of the American Revolution and thirteen years before the French Revolution, Sophie grew up among the many social, economic, and political conflicts of that era. She went against the wishes of her family and the social prejudices to become a great mathematician, unrecognized for her contributions in number theory, elasticity of vibrating surfaces, and the curvature of surfaces for a long time.
Sophie Germain's passion of the study of mathematics sparked when she was only thirteen years old. Sophie spent her free time reading in her father's library since it was very dangerous to play outdoors because of the revolts in Paris happening at this time. There, she came across an intriguing piece of writing describing the death of the famous mathematician Archimedes. According to the legend, Archimedes was so enchanted by a geometric figure in the sand that he failed to respond to a Roman soldier's questions; as a result, he was speared to death. Inspired by this story, Sophie discovered her love for mathematics. From that point on, Sophie spent her nights teaching herself Latin and Greek. Because her parents, and the society in general, greatly disapproved of female interest in mathematics, they took away her clothes, heat, and light to keep her from reading at night. However, their countless attempts failed, and Sophie, without the aid of a tutor, pursued her dreams of studying differential calculus.
At the age of eighteen, Sophie Germain began submitting papers of her own interpretations and findings of mathematics to college professors. When the Ecole Polytechnique was founded in Paris in 1794, Sophie obtained notes from lectures, given by J. L. Lagrange, from her male friends. Because the academy would not accept papers written by women, Sophie used Monsieur LeBlanc, the name of a former student, to disguise herself. After Professor Lagrange discovered the true identity of "Monsieur LeBlanc", he truly admired and was astonished by Germain’s work and exchanged his own theories with her; he never met Sophie in person. This was a major breakthrough for Germain and the many women who proceeded her in similar interests. It allowed the society and the male dominated world to accept women, like Germain, in the fields of mathematics and sciences. In 1801, Sophie began corresponding with Carl Freidrich Gauss, with whom she shared one of her greatest results in number theory. If x, y, and z are integers such that x^5 + y^5 = z^5, then either x, y, or z are divisible by 5. This was a good stepping stone to the proof of Fermat's last theorem for n = 5. Germain's interest then shifted to the experiments of Ernst Chladni, a German physicist investigating the vibration of elastic plates. The French Academy of Sciences announced a contest to explain Chladni's theories, which Germain finally won in 1816 on her third attempt.
Only 55 years-of-age, Marie Sophie Germain died on June 27, 1831, after losing the painful battle with breast cancer. Shortly before her death, Carl Gauss convinced the University of Gsttengen to give Sophie an honorary doctoral degree; unfortunately, she died before she could receive it. To this day, Sophie is not fully credited for her excellent work in number theory and mathematical physics. And to this day, her determination, undistracted passion for mathematics, and the will to succeed amidst prejudice encourages present and future generations to follow her example.
Bibliography
Cooney, Miriam P., Celebrating Women in Mathematics and Science, Reston, Virginia,
1996, p. 37-45.
http://www.cs.appstate.edu/~sjg/womeninmath/SophieGermain.html