Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.- HypatiaW...

1. Famous Women Mathematicians
Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.
- Hypatia
Whenever we take the past into consideration, we assume that women always took a backseat when
it came to intellectual subjects, and that it was men who pursued them and in turn imparted them to
the rest of the society.
However, there indeed were women who made their mark in the fields of intellect, and set a
standard for the future generations to attain. Hence, we were extremely pleased to come across a
list of amazing women who pursued mathematics, science, and philosophy back in the olden days.
Though this list certainly isn't exhaustive, we have tried to name and present some of the greatest
female mathematicians in the world.
Hypatia
? Hypatia is widely believed to be the first woman mathematician whose contribution to the field is
immensely significant.
? She was born in Alexandria, Egypt, around 350 CE and was a recognized scholar. Besides being a
mathematician, she was also an astute astronomer and a philosopher, and was believed to impart the
theories of Plato and Aristotle to students.
? Hypatia died a tragic died in 415 CE when she was brutally murdered by a fanatic Christian mob
who was convinced that she was a threat to their religion.
? Her immortal contributions to the mathematical world, paved the way for inexhaustible research
on many topics. Her major works are believed to be as follows:
A commentary on the 13th volume of the famous Greek mathematics text-book, 'Artihmetica'.
She edited Ptolemy's famous version of the 'Almagest'.
She edited her father's commentary on 'Euclid's Elements'.
A commentary on a famous work on Conics by Apollonius.
Maria Gaetana Agnesi

2. ? A child prodigy, an Italian linguist, and a math wizard, Maria was a multi-dimensional talent. Born
in a wealthy family in 1718, she was the eldest child of her parents, out of the 21 children that her
father had with his three wives.
? She had a command over several languages by the time she turned 10, and mastered math in her
teenage years. She was barely 10 when she delivered a speech in Latin about women's right to be
educated to the intellectuals of the time. She was truly a wonder child.
? Despite her marvelous brains, Maria was very shy in nature and never married. She became an
honorary member of the faculty at the University of Bologna in Italy.
? Her contribution to the field of mathematics is remarkable, and can be summed up as follows.
She is believed to have written the first book introducing integral and differential calculus.
She also wrote Instituzioni analitiche ad uso della gioventu italiana-a masterpiece regarded as the
best extension to Euler's work.
She wrote a treaty, which could not get published, but was greatly admired.
She determined the equation of a peculiar curve, which came to be known as the 'Witch of Agnesi'.
This curve remains as her most remarkable achievement.
Sophie Germain
? Sophie was born in a wealthy upper class French family, in 1776-the year of the American
Revolution. Her father was a wealthy silk merchant, and he later became a director of the Bank of
France.
? At the time, any sort of 'brain work' was regarded to be unhealthy and dangerous for women.
Sophie was, however, not one to be deterred, and she learned mathematics despite a lot of problems
and social taboos that were conferred upon women by society. Her earliest education in the field is
widely believed to be self-taught, for she did not have a tutor.
? Sophie Germain is often famously called the 'Revolutionary Mathematician'. Her notable
accomplishments are as follows.
Initially, she worked on number theories and came up with interesting theorems on prime numbers.
She even discovered new identities. Many such numbers are now called "Sophie Germain primes".
Her work on 'Fermat's Last theorem' was a path-breaking one.
She was the first woman to attend both 'Academie des Science' and an 'Institut de France' session.
Ada Lovelace
? Ada was the only legitimate daughter of the famous poet, 'Lord Byron' and his wife, Anne Isabelle
Byron from whom he separated a short while after Ada was born.

3. ? Born on December 10, 1815 in Britain, she is designated as the 'first programmer' of the world.
She laid the foundation for the massive world of software and computers.
? In 1980, the computer programming language "Ada" was named after her. She is chiefly
recognized to have written the symbols and codes according to the rules, for Charles Babbage's
early mechanical computer, 'the analytical engine'.
Sofia Kovalevskaya
? Sofia was born on January 15, 1850, in Moscow, Russia. Her parents were both scholarly and
encouraged her interest in mathematics, which was unusual for the time. She even had a tutor, who
taught her calculus.
? Sofia is famously known to be the first major female Russian mathematician. She is also the first
woman to be awarded full professorship in Northern Europe. Her work on differential equations
known as Kovalevskaya Top is remarkable and noteworthy.
? She also worked on the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem, which is a very basic theorem that helps
understand differential equations.
Amalie Emmy Noether
? Born on March 23, 1882 in Germany, Amalie was a mathematician who is remembered for her
revolutionary work in abstract algebra and theoretical physics. She was described by legendary
scientists as "the most important woman in mathematical history since the higher education of
women began."
? Her notable works include path-breaking theories in algebra, and a famous theorem that
connected conservation laws and symmetry in theoretical physics. She has been the recipient of the
Ackermann- Teubner Memorial Award in 1932, a prestigious honor to be bestowed upon women of
that era.
These were some of the famous women who proved their mathematical genius and who will,
undoubtedly, always find a prestigious position in the pages of history.