Sophie Germain Biography

This Biography consists of approximately 4 pages of information about the life of Sophie Germain.

Sophie Germain Biography

This Biography consists of approximately 4 pages of information about the life of Sophie Germain.
This section contains 980 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Sophie Germain Biography

World of Mathematics on Sophie Germain

Sophie Germain's foundational work on Fermat's Last Theorem, a problem unsolved in mathematics into the late 20th century, stood unmatched for over one hundred years. Though published by a mentor of hers, Adrien-Marie Legendre, it is still referred to in textbooks as Germain's Theorem.

Germain worked alone, which was to her credit, yet contributed in a fundamental way to her limited development as a theorist. Her famed attempt to provide the mystery of Chladni figures with a pure mathematical model was made with no competition or collaboration. The three contests held by the Paris Académie Royale des Sciences from 1811 to 1816, regarding acoustics and elasticity of vibrating plates, never had more than one entry--hers. Each time she offered a new breakthrough: a fundamental hypothesis, an experimentally disprovable claim, and a treatment of curved and planar surfaces. However, even her final prizewinning paper was not published until after...

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This section contains 980 words
(approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Sophie Germain Biography
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Sophie Germain from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.