Emmy Noether's innovative approach to modern abstract algebra not only produced significant results, but it inspired highly productive work by students and colleagues who emulated her technique. Dismissed from her university position at the beginning of Nazi rule in Germany--for she was both Jewish and female--Noether emigrated to the United States, where she taught at several universities and colleges. In a letter published in the New York Times, Albert Einsteineulogized her as "the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began."

Noether was born on March 23, 1882, in Erlangen, Germany. Her first name was Amalie, but she was known by her middle name of Emmy. Her mother, Ida Amalia Kaufmann Noether, came from a wealthy family in Cologne. Her father, Max Noether,was an eminent mathematics professor at the University of Erlangen who worked on the theory of algebraic functions. Two...