Mathematics Education Month

When celebrating April as Mathematics Education Month, it is in order to reflect on the life of Marie-Sophie Germain who was born in Paris on April 1st, 1776. As a girl she smuggled candles into her room and wrapped herself in her quilts because her father turned off the heat and light to her room when he found out she was studying geometry and Latin. She later took correspondence courses from the Ecole Polytechnique because they did not allow women in the school itself. In order to have Lagrange and Gauss look at her results, she had to use the pseudonym M. Leblanc in her correspondence. But she ultimately made significant contributions to acoustics, elasticity, and the theory of numbers; her greatest contribution to mathematics was the proof of Fermat's last theorem for several prime exponents less than 100. After she had established her reputation in mathematics, Gauss recommended her for an honorary doctorate from the University of Goettingen, but she died of breast cancer before it could be awarded.

For further information, see the Agnes Scott College Biographies of Women Mathematicians.

e-mail comments to: campbell@math.uni.edu

March 1998