Abstract
The leading number theorists at the turn of the nineteenth century were Legendre and Gauss, and right between these two great men we always find Sophie Germain.
A taste for the abstract sciences in general and above all the mysteries of numbers is extremely rare: it is not a subject which strikes everyone; the enchanting charms of this sublime science reveal themselves only to those who have the courage to go deeply into it. But when a person of the sex which, according to our customs and prejudices, must encounter infinitely more difficulties than men to familiarize herself with these thorny researches, succeeds nevertheless in surmounting these obstacles and penetrating the most obscure parts of them, then without doubt she must have the noblest courage, quite extraordinary talents, and a superior genius.
— GAUSS to GERMAIN
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Notes
- 1.
Germain-Gauss Correspondence, Letter 7. Gauss wrote those words after he discovered that Monsieur LeBlanc was actually Mademoiselle Germain.
- 2.
Goldstein and Schappacher (2007), p. 20.
- 3.
In her letter to Gauss dated 20 Feb 1807, Sophie wrote: «le ridicule attaché au titre de femme savante».
- 4.
Montucla (1756), pp. 315, 318.
- 5.
Ibid., p. 326.
- 6.
Musielak (2014).
- 7.
The title was Dissertation sur la nature et la propagation du feu.
- 8.
Musielak (2014).
- 9.
Musielak (2018).
- 10.
Tables de la durée du jour et de la nuit, calculées par Mme DU PIERRY. Paris, 1782.
- 11.
Hoffmann, R., Mme. Lavoisier, www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/mme-lavoisier.
- 12.
“Biot, Jean-Baptiste.” Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Jean_Baptiste_Biot.aspx.
- 13.
Poirier (1998), p. 337.
- 14.
Ibid., p. 339.
- 15.
Ibid., p. 343.
- 16.
Laubenbacher and Pengelley (2010), p. 692.
- 17.
Comte (1864), p. 604.
- 18.
Patterson (2007), p. 507.
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Musielak, D. (2020). Princess of Mathematics. In: Sophie Germain. Springer Biographies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38375-6_14
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