13/12/2017

Time tunnel: Emmy Noether completes her Ph.D. in Mathematics.

On December 13, 1907 , German Amalie Emmy Noether (1882-1935) received her Ph.D. in Mathematics, summa cum laude (with the highest honors), from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, after presenting a dissertation on algebraic invariants, under the supervision of Paul Gordan.

Born in Bavaria in 1882, she was the daughter of a mathematics expert. At the age of 18, she decided to study the subject at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Her insistence and her father's influence led to her being accepted as an auditing student. However, her talent prevailed, and the university authorized her to begin her doctorate as a full-time student, making her the second woman to obtain this degree in mathematics.

She worked at the Erlangen-Nuremberg Mathematical Institute without pay for seven years and distinguished herself with her theories on rings, fields, and algebra. Invited to join the Mathematics Department at the University of Göttingen, she had to use the pseudonym David Hilbert to teach because they did not accept a woman publicly holding the position. Recognition only came in 1931, when her Dutch colleague B.L. van der Waerden presented her ideas as the basis of his textbook "Modern Algebra". From then on, Emmy Noether came to be considered the creator of modern algebra. She died at the age of 53 in 1935, a victim of ovarian cancer.