Great Women of Mathematics
The highlighted names in the following sections link to more in-depth information about the lives of these Great Women of Mathematics from the Biographies of Women Mathematicians site at Agnes Scott College.
Hypatia of Alexandria
Greek mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher in 4th & 5th century Egypt, recognized for her commentaries on prominent mathematical works of her time
Book on Display:
Hypatia of Alexandria : mathematician and martyr / Michael A.B. Deakin
QA29.H88 D43 2007 - Main (Gardner) Stacks
Other Books:
Hypatia of Alexandria / Maria Dzielska; translated by F. Lyra
Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799)
Italian mathematician, philosopher, theologian and humanitarian, best known for her seminal text on mathematical analysis, Analytical Institutions
Book on Display:
A biography of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, an eighteenth-century woman mathematician / Antonella Cupillari
QA29.A28 C87 2007 - Main (Gardner) Stacks
Other Books:
The world of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, mathematician of God / Massimo Mazzotti QA29.A28 M39 2007 - Math/Stat Library
Sophie Germain (1776-1831)
French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher who made significant contributions to the fields of number theory and theory of elasticity; first woman to participate in sessions at the French Academy of Sciences
Book on Display:
Prime mystery : the life and mathematics of Sophie Germain / Dora E. Musielak
QA29.G47 M87 2015 - Math/Stat Library
Other Books:
Sophie Germain : an essay in the history of the theory of elasticity / Louis L. Bucciarelli and Nancy Dworsky
Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace (1815-1852)
Ada Byron, Lady Lovelace (1815-1852)
English mathematician, scientist, and writer, known as the "prophet of the computer age" for her visionary ideas regarding the potential uses of computational machines
Book on Display:
The thrilling adventures of Lovelace and Babbage / Sydney Padua
PN6737.P34 T48 2015 - Engineering Library
Other Books:
Ada : a life and a legacy / Dorothy Stein
QA29.L72 S741 1985 - Main (Gardner) Stacks
Ada's algorithm : how Lord Byron's daughter Ada Lovelace launched the digital age / James Essinger
QA29.L72 E87 2014 - Engineering Library
The calculating passion of Ada Byron / Joan Baum
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)
English social reformer, nurse, and statistician who employed new techniques of statistical analysis in her efforts to ameliorate unsanitary hospital conditions
Book on Display:
Florence Nightingale : the making of an icon / Mark Bostridge
RT37.N5 B67 2008 - Main (Gardner) Stacks
Other Books:
Nightingales : the extraordinary upbringing and curious life of Miss Florence Nightingale / Gillian Gill
RT37.N5 G556 2004 - Main (Gardner) Stacks
No place for ladies : the untold story of women in the Crimean War / Helen Rappaport
Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850-1891)
Russian mathematician who made noteworthy contributions to the fields of analysis, partial differential equations, and mechanics
Book on Display:
The mathematics of Sonya Kovalevskaya / Roger Cooke
QA300.C65 1984 - Math/Stat Library
Other Books:
A convergence of lives : Sofia Kovalevskaia, scientist, writer, revolutionary / Ann Hibner Koblitz
QA29.K67 K6 1983 - Math/Stat Library
Little sparrow : a portrait of Sophia Kovalevsky / Don H. Kennedy
QA29.K67 .K46 1983 - Math/Stat Library
Love and mathematics : Sofya Kovalevskaya / Pelageya Kochina; edited by A. Yu. Ishlinsky and Z.K. Sokolovskaya; translated from the Russian by Michael Burov
QA29.K67 K63131 1985 - Math/Stat Library
A Russian childhood / Sofya Kovalevskaya; translated, edited, and introduced by Beatrice Stillman; with an analysis of Kovalevskaya's Mathematics by P. Y. Kochina
Emmy Amalie Noether (1882-1935)
German mathematician known for her landmark contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics
Book on Display:
Emmy Noether's wonderful theorem / Dwight E. Neuenschwander
QC174.17.S9 N48 2011 - Physics Library
Other Books:
Emmy Noether, 1882-1935 / Auguste Dick; translated by H. I. Blocher
QA29.N6 .D513 - Math/Stat Library
Gesammelte Abhandlungen = Collected papers / Emmy Noether; herausgegeben von N. Jacobson
Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890-1980)
American mathematician and educator, first African-American woman to earn a PhD in mathematics
Book on Display:
Determination of sets of independent conditions characterizing certain special cases of symmetric correspondences / Euphemia Lofton Haynes
Other Books:
Change is possible : stories of women and minorities in mathematics (p.93-99) / Patricia Clark Kenschaft
Mary Cartwright (1900-1998)
British mathematician known for her research in analytic function theory and for the distinction of being the first woman mathematician elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of England
Book on Display:
Integral functions / Mary Lucy Cartwright
Other Books:
Cambridge scientific minds (p.282-298) / edited by Peter Harman and Simon Mitton
Katherine Johnson (1918-2020)
American physicist and mathematician who played a major role in the US space program
Book on Display:
Hidden figures : the American dream and the untold story of the Black women mathematicians who helped win the space race / Margot Lee Shetterly
QA27.5.L44 2016 - Math/Stat Library
Other Books:
Black women scientists in the United States (p.140-147) / Wini Warren