Anyone who has seen Hidden Figures (2016) is familiar with Katherine Johnson who overcame gender and racial barriers to work at NASA during the 1960s Space Race. At the time, it was almost set in stone that women could not do higher mathematics and the effort it took to do away with this myth. Despite the prejudices, women have been important to the field from the earliest known history to the present day with more than a little gossip on the side simply because they were women. For Women’s History Month: The Calculating Ladies.
Hypatia (c. 350–415): Renowned philosopher and mathematician in Alexandria, known for work on conic sections and geometry. Gossip and political tension in Alexandria accused her of using pagan magic, practicing witchcraft, and manipulating Governor Orestes against Bishop Cyril, leading to her brutal murder by a mob.
Ada Lovelace (1815–1852): Developed the first algorithm for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, making her the first computer programmer. Raised by her mother (Lady Byron) to avoid her father’s (Lord Byron) scandalous tendencies, she was a compulsive gambler who pawned family jewels, developed an addiction to opiates, and was rumored to have had multiple affairs.
Sophie Germain (1776–1831): Made significant contributions to number theory and elasticity, despite being self-taught due to societal limitations. When Sophie’s parents realized she was obsessed with mathematics, they were horrified, as it was not considered a proper pursuit for a young woman. To stop her, they took away her candles, fire, and even her clothes at night to keep her in bed.
Emmy Noether (1882–1935): Described by Albert Einstein as the most significant woman in mathematics, she revolutionized abstract algebra and theoretical physics with Noether’s Theorem. Forced out of Germany in 1933 due to her Jewish background, she moved to Bryn Mawr College in the U.S., where she was a popular, albeit chaotic, teacher.
Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850–1891): A pioneer for women in STEM, she made major contributions to partial differential equations and mechanics. Due to restrictions on women, entered a “fictitious marriage” to study abroad. Her life was filled with drama, with intense romantic rumors about her advisor, Karl Weierstrass, a tumultuous relationship with her husband, a close friendship with Dostoevsky, and an early death from pneumonia.
Florence Nightingale (1820–1910): Well known as “The Lady With A Lamp” during the Crimean War. Less well known as a statistician who pioneered data visualization, creating the polar area diagram to improve public heath. In 19th-century England, nursing was seen as a job for drunks and prostitutes. When Nightingale told her wealthy family she wanted to be a nurse, they found it horrifying and “disastrous. At 17, she rejected a marriage proposal from a wealthy suitor, Richard Monckton Milnes, because she believed she needed to dedicate her life to service, not marriage.
As the century turned, we leave behind the gossip against “women who don’t know their place and despite prejudices are now simply lauded for their accomplishments.
Mary Cartwright (1900–1998): First female mathematician elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and a pioneer in chaos theory.
Katherine Johnson (1918–2020): NASA mathematician whose orbital mechanics calculations were critical to US manned spaceflights.
Julia Robinson (1919–1985): Known for her work on decision problems and Hilbert’s Tenth Problem.
Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017): First woman to win the Fields Medal (2014) for her work in geometry and dynamical systems.
Karen Uhlenbeck (b. 1942): First woman to win the Abel Prize (2019) for her work in geometric analysis.
Ingrid Daubechies (b. 1954): Recognized for her study of the mathematical methods that enhance image-compression technology.
Maryna Viazovska (b. 1984): Awarded the Fields Medal (2022) for solving the sphere-packing problem in 8 dimensions
Hannah Fry (b. 1984): British mathematician, author and broadcaster. She is the Professor of Public Understanding of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge and president of the Institute of Mathematics.
One response to “Hypatia To Hannah”
Not strictly a mathematician, but I’m sure she can do all the maths.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Love_Cohen
Judith Love Cohen (August 16, 1933 – July 25, 2016)[1] was an American aerospace engineer. She was an electrical engineer on the Minuteman missile, the science ground station for the Hubble Space Telescope, the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, and the Apollo Space Program.[2] In particular, her work on the Abort-Guidance System is credited with helping save Apollo 13.
In 1990, after retiring from practice as an engineer, she began a publishing company called Cascade Pass with her third husband, David Katz.[3] They published two series of books:
The “You Can be a Woman … ” series was created to encourage very young girls to pursue careers in science and engineering
The “Green” series focuses on promoting positive environmental practices, aimed at young children
In a memorial tribute, her son Neil notes that she was troubleshooting problems with schematics on the day she went into labor, called her boss to let him know she had fixed the problem and then delivered Jack.[9]
*The “Jack” referred to is Jack Black.