Sophie Germain died #OnThisDay in 1831.
One of the pioneers of elasticity theory, she won the grand prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences for her essay on the subject. Despite initial opposition from her parents, she gained education from books in her father's library.
One of the pioneers of elasticity theory, she won the grand prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences for her essay on the subject. Despite initial opposition from her parents, she gained education from books in her father's library.
In lieu of a formal education, unavailable to women until more than a century later, Germain supplemented her reading and her natural gift for science by exchanging letters with some of the era’s most prominent mathematicians.
After sharing her thinking with mathematician Siméon Denis Poisson, Sophie's ideas were borrowed and published by Poisson as his own work on elasticity, giving Germain no credit.
brainpickings.org/2017/02/22/sop…
brainpickings.org/2017/02/22/sop…
It's because of assholes like Poisson that women to this day struggle for space and respect.
And that's why I'm happy to block misogynists who come here to say that women have never made it big in science.
Don't waste your time and don't make me waste mine.
And that's why I'm happy to block misogynists who come here to say that women have never made it big in science.
Don't waste your time and don't make me waste mine.
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