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Hello from Wonder Media Network.

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I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is

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Encyclopedia Wamanica.

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Today's steminist faced discrimination

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from every angle. She had to

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battle twice as hard for half of the opportunities

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offered to men in her day. Still,

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she managed to overcome it all and gained

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recognition from some of the top scientific

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minds of her era. Let's

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talk about the marvelous mathematician

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Emmy Noether. Emmy

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Noether was born in Erlangen, Germany,

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on March twenty third, eighteen eighty two.

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She was the eldest child in a family of

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scholars. Her father was

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a math professor at the University of Erlangen,

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and both of Emmy's brothers would go on to

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be scientists. Emmy

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came from a Jewish lineage, though

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her ancestors were forced to change their last

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names under a German referendum in the

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early eighteen hundreds. Like

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many other steminists born in that

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era, Emmy was expected

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to do work deemed acceptable for women.

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Women were to focus on cooking, cleaning,

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homemaking, and running the house budget.

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Emmy studied what she was expected to study

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and attended a general finishing school

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instead of a college prep school in

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nineteen hundred, she was certified

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to teach English and French. But

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Emmy was really interested in math, so

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she decided to pursue a university education.

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Despite the obstacles, Emmy

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wanted to attend classes at the University

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of Erlangen. To do so,

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women had to get permission from the instructor,

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and even then they couldn't pursue a full degree.

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Emmy received the required permission and

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became one of only two women sitting

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in on university classes at the time,

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where there were thousands of men. At

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that point. At the University of Erlangen,

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Emmy was still only allowed to take classes

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related to language and Roman history.

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She took another admission test

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and enrolled in a different university to

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sit in on math classes. Finally,

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a year later, her original university

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changed its policy and began admitting

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women. Emmy re enrolled.

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In nineteen oh seven, Emmy received

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her PhD in math with the highest

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honors. After graduation,

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Emmy worked at the Mathematical Institute

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of Erlangen without pay for

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seven years. There

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she started her collaboration with several

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prominent mathematicians working on theoretical

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algebra. In nineteen

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fifteen, she joined the Mathematical

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Institute in the city of Gottingen and

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teamed up with other academics to study

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Einstein's general relativity theory.

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Three years later, Emmy proved

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two basic theorems that were key for

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both general relativity and particle

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physics. One of those

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proofs is today known as Noether's

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theorem. Still, Emmy

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wasn't allowed to be an official lecturer at

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the university because of her gender.

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If she wanted to teach, she had to

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do so as the assistant of David Hilbert,

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another prominent mathematician. In

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nineteen nineteen, David Hilbert

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and Albert Einstein himself stepped

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in to advocate on Emmy's behalf, and

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she was finally allowed to lecture at the university.

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She was then allowed to do the job, but

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she still wasn't paid for her work. That's

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until nineteen twenty two, when

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she became an associate professor without

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ten year and was allowed a small

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salary. Despite

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these challenges, Emmy was very

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productive. She worked

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on abstract algebra, group theory,

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ring theory, number theory, and more.

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In the mid twentieth century, there was

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a debate about whether maths should be abstract

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or more applied and constructive. Emmy's

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controversial abstract approach to

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mathematics led to theories and principles

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that united many disciplines, including

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algebra, geometry, topology,

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and logic. Emmy went

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on to teach at multiple universities. In

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nineteen twenty eight, she was a visiting

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professor at the University of Moscow. In

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nineteen thirty she taught in Frankfort, and

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in nineteen thirty two she gave a lecture at

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the International Mathematical Congress

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in Zurich. Despite

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all of Emmy's accomplishments, the Nazi

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regime denied her permission to teach.

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In nineteen thirty three, with anti

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Semitic tensions mounting in Germany,

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it became unsafe for Emmy to stay. She

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moved to the US to teach as a guest

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professor at Brynmark College

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in Pennsylvania. She

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later lectured at the Institute for Advanced

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Study at Princeton. When

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she was fifty three years old, Emmy

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had to have surgery to remove a uterine

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tumor. She died from

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an infection after the surgery in April

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nineteen thirty five. Though

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Emmy Nother's life was cut short by her

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illness. She made a serious

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mark in her field despite

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facing seemingly never ending obstacles.

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She'll forever be remembered for her mathematical

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theories. Tune

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in tomorrow for the story of another determined

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feminist special thanks

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to my favorite sister and co creator Liz

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Kaplan. Talk to you tomorrow.