Sophie Germain was a self-taught mathematician at a time when females were not allowed into school. Inspired by stories of Archimedes, Germain persistently pursued her love for math, secretly studying by candlelight in her room at night. She is famous for corresponding with some of the math greats of her time, including Gauss. Germain even took on a pen name, M. LeBlanc, so that the math scholars she corresponded with would not know she was a woman. She is known for her contributions to Fermat's Last Theorem, differential geometry, and number theory. Germain has several namesakes in mathematics:
- Sophie Germain Prime Number - a prime number which has an associated safe prime number for 2p+1
- Germain's Theorem - a partial solution to Fermat's Last Theorem.
Sources:
"Marie-Sophie Germain." Germain Biography. University of St. Andrews Scotland, n.d. Web. 25 June 2014. <http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Germain.html>
Singh, Simon. "Marie-Sophie Germain." Germain Biography. PBS, 28 Oct. 1997. Web. 25 June 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/sophie-germain.html>.
"Marie-Sophie Germain." Germain Biography. University of St. Andrews Scotland, n.d. Web. 25 June 2014. <http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Germain.html>
Singh, Simon. "Marie-Sophie Germain." Germain Biography. PBS, 28 Oct. 1997. Web. 25 June 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/sophie-germain.html>.