Sophie Germain
Sophie Germain ( born April 1, 1776 in Paris, † June 27, 1831 ibid ) was a French mathematician. Occasionally, her death is dated on the June 26, 1831. 1805 proved that the Fermat's theorem for a set of primes ( Sophie Germain primes ) applies.
Life
Youth
Germain was born on April 1, 1766 in Paris. She grew up as the middle of three sisters. Her father Ambroise - Francois Germain was a rich merchant who was active in the silk trade. The home was heavily influenced by the French Revolution and its thinkers.
Already in her youth las Germain - against the wishes of her parents - her father's mathematical books from the library. Attempts by the parents, the young woman dissuade them from their employment with mathematics, for instance by not illuminated her room still heated proved fruitless. At age 13, she learned Latin and Greek language through self-study. This enabled her later to study works of Newton, Euler, Laplace, Lagrange and Gauss.
But first she needed a mathematical education. This was not easy, because at that time women were allowed to attend universities. That's why she got from students Leblanc but died in the French Revolution, and thus could not help Vorlesungsunterlagen the Ecole Polytechnique and studied further by self-study. After his death, she used his name to be send in by post and correct their solutions Asked exercises. Pleased with the quality of the submitted solutions demanded her professor Joseph -Louis Lagrange Leblanc to a conversation to which Sophie Germain finally appeared and declared himself. Lagrange showed positively surprised by the discovery that the talented student turned out to be a woman and encouraged them open then. This made them known in Paris.
Mathematical discoveries
After working through the work of these mathematicians Germain wrote on their own research findings and presented it in 1804 in an exchange of letters Carl Friedrich Gauss. It did so, however, under the pseudonym of Auguste Antoine Le Blanc, because she was afraid of not being taken seriously as a woman. It was not until 1807 Gauss learned of her true identity, as Sophie Germain on the occasion of the French occupation of Brunswick in 1806 to the French commander General Penetry turned (a friend of her family ), to make intercession for the safety of Gauss.
In particular Germain worked on the last Fermat's conjecture and proved in 1805 that this conjecture is true for a number of primes as the Sophie Germain primes were known later. Before her Leonhard Euler and Adrien -Marie Legendre had attempted to prove this theorem, but it had failed.
From 1809 Sophie Germain employed at a contest of the French Academy on the vibrations of elastic plates with mathematical physics, from the experiments ( sound figures ) was inspired by Chladni. The problem was described by Lagrange as too difficult for the former and mathematical methods he and other famous mathematicians such as Poisson working on it. The solution that Sophie Germain 1811 submitted was erroneous. Lagrange proposed, inspired by their work, an improved equation before, but neither it nor could deduce Germain with the necessary mathematical rigor. 1815 Sophie Germain was a prize in the re-opened price bid of academy status, but she was disappointed about the non - recognition of their work by some mathematician Siméon Denis Poisson in particular, and did not attend the award ceremony. Since Poisson further used some of their findings in their own publications, Germain decided in 1821, the paper on elastic surfaces, has been awarded for her the price, to be published.
Gauss sat down in 1831 to ensure that the University of Göttingen awarded her an honorary doctorate. But that did not, for Germain died a few months earlier at the age of 55 years to breast cancer.
Writings
- Recherches sur la théorie de élastiques surfaces. In 1821.
- Observations on nature, limits and scope of the issue of elastic surfaces. In 1826.
- Mémoire sur la Courbure of surfaves. , 1830.
- Considérations générales sur l' état des sciences et des lettres. 1831st