Emmy Noether: The Most Important Mathematician You've Never Heard Of

Helaine Becker

Oct 2020 · Kids Can Press Ltd

About this ebook

An engaging picture book biography of a groundbreaking female mathematician. Emmy Noether is not pretty, quiet or good at housework — all the things a girl of her time is expected to be. What she is, though, is brilliant at math. And when she grows up, she skirts the rules to first study math at a university and then teach it. She also helps to solve of the most pressing mathematical and physics problems of the day. And though she doesn’t get much credit during her lifetime, her discoveries continue to influence how we understand the world today. One of the most influential mathematicians of the twentieth century finally gets her due!

Ratings and reviews

A Smart Woman Before Her Time What a fascinating woman to find out about in this little children's non-fiction book. As the subtitle says, I had never heard of her, yet she was a mathematical genius who helped Einstein figure out a problem he was having with the theory of relativity. Because of her gender and the era she lived in, she first had a hard time getting any education to build on her natural mathematical aptitude, and then she wasn't allowed to actually take classes for a degree (only allowed to sit in) at first. Her male colleagues took credit for her ideas that sometimes revolutionized mathematics and physics, first in school and afterward as well. After finally being allowed to get a Ph.D., she then could not officially be a professor as no German university allowed female professors, but she did so anyway without pay. When the Nazis prohibited Jews from teaching at universities, she taught students from home. She eventually immigrated to the US because of fear for her life under Nazism. She had hoped to get a job at Princeton, but they did not have female professors at the time. So she became a mathematics professor at Bryn Mawr, though she surprisingly faced issues there as well. Unfortunately, she did not live long after coming to the US, just a couple of years, before she died of an infection after surgery. Her mathematical work has actually formed the basis of some of what we think of as the modern sciences, like quantum mechanics and computer science. Her story is one of perseverance, despite all the odds stacked against her. There were a few odd things about the book, though. Not in the main text, but short sentences and phrases that were a part of the illustrations. I thought the “Say it, don't spray it” comment was completely unnecessary and detracted from the book. Despite this flaw, I hope young girls interested in math and science find this book and feel inspired to follow their non-traditional dreams. Emmy is certainly one who should inspire! I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.

About the author

Helaine Becker is a bestselling children’s author of more than ninety books, including Hubots, Monster Science, Zoobots, The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea and Lines, Bars and Circles. She is a two-time recipient of the Lane Anderson Award and a winner of the Silver Birch Award and the Red Cedar Award. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.;Kari Rust is an illustrator, author and animator. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.