The theory that women and mathematics are galaxies that are infinitely far apart was already refuted by Emmy Noether at the beginning of the 20th century. "She is not only considered the founder of modern axiomatic algebra, but also most important mathematicianwho ever lived," writes her biographer Dr. Cordula Tollmien. However, the German universities of her time did not support women's habilitation, which is why she was only given small teaching positions.
Certainly well inspired by her father Max Noether (1844 *Heidelberg, + 1921 Erlangen), an important professor of mathematics at the University of Erlangen, she too developed a passion for science, dedicated to the study of geometric figures and calculating with numbers.
When women were admitted to study at Bavarian universities for the first time in 1903, she seized her opportunity and enrolled at the University of Erlangen. In 1907 she received her doctorate there in Mathematics. At the age of 25, she was the second German (Marie Gernet was the first in Heidelberg in 1895) to receive a doctorate in mathematics from a German university – with summa cum laude. The subject of her thesis was the Invariant theoryShe is credited with making fundamental contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics.
At the University of Göttingen, where she worked as an ao. (extraordinary) Professor From 1922 to 1933, she became the center of mathematical life. In April 1933, she was dismissed—like many other Jewish professors—for her "left-wing pacifist" views. Her rescue came from fellow mathematician Hermann Weyl, who arranged for her to be a visiting professor at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania.
From October 1933, she worked there and also at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Two years later, she died from the consequences of an operation. The Dutch mathematician Van der Waerden spread her ideas worldwide through his textbook "(Modern) Algebra."