Sophie Germain; Pas Comme les Autres
Isaac Cook
Born April 1st, 1776, Sophie Germain grew up during a time of global political and social turmoil. The revolution in the Americas carried over to her country of France when she was only thirteen with the Fall of Bastille in 1789 marking the beginning of the French Revolution. As the daughter of an upper-class merchant and political leader, Sophie had access to a wealth of knowledge and philosophical affairs. Being forced to spend her teen years inside to avoid the rioting in the streets, Sophie took full advantage of her father’s library and began studying fervently, desiring to be well-learned in all areas of knowledge and find a ‘serious pursuit’. This led her to the history of Archimedes, who inspired her to pursue geometry, thus sparking a lifelong pursuit of mathematics. Due to her gender, Sophie’s interest of study was met with heavy opposition from her parents as STEM fields were deemed not important for women. Despite this, Sophie continued to pursue mathematics, eventually softening her parents’ hearts with her sheer determination to develop her craft, having self-taught everything she knew. She continued to grate against the gender norms of late 18th, early 19th century France and western culture by making mathematics her life’s pursuit. She resorted to using a pseudonym to pursue secondary education and gain correspondence with several contemporary mathematicians, eventually finding allies and community in the great mathematicians Legrange, Legendre, and Gauss. With their help and her determination, Sophie fought to earn her place among the math and science community, producing several key advancements in the fields of number theory and physics and garnering the respect of her contemporaries. This presentation gives an overview of Sophie’s journey and her contributions to the advancement of number theory and applied mathematics in physics.
Isaac Cook is from Liberty, South Carolina and graduated as valedictorian from Liberty High School in 2019. He is currently a senior in the dual degree mathematics and engineering program with minors in biology and chemistry. Isaac works as a consultant in the Writing Center on campus and acts a youth leader at his local church.