Emmy Noether

Einstein couldn't have proved the conservation of energy without the work of Emmy Noether. This was a German woman born 1882, so of my grandmother's generation. My grandmother was the daughter of a Scottish carpenter. Emmy Noether was the daughter of a German mathematician. When my grandmother was 14, her father died, so she had to leave school though she'd intended to train as a teacher, and go to work. Emmy Noether's father taught her maths, and in 1907, she was awarded a doctorate - only the second doctorate awarded to a woman by a German university.

In the same decade, Einstein was working out his theory of general relativity but had more problems to solve. He presented his theory and problems in 1915, convincing Hilbert and Klein of the merits of his work. They involved Emmy Noether, who within months produced a brilliant paper that resolved one of the issues of general relativity.

In 1915, my grandmother had her first child, my much loved aunty. Both Emmy Noether and my grandmother have impacted on my life. It's people like Emmy Noether beating the way through prejudices against women and Jews that mean my grandmother's children, grandchildren and great grand-daughters can recognise and use their mathematical talents.

But achievement is not due only to women on their own. Emmy Noether had a skilled father who recognised and nurtured her talents. Women need reliable, caring fathers who respect and encourage their daughters to realise their potential to contribute to our world so men and womens' work complement each other, as did Einstein and Noether.

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Source: Derbyshire, J, Unknown Quantity: a real and imaginary history of algebra, 2006