The Personality of Math by Paul A. Wagner

Author:Paul A. Wagner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2022-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Women and This Emerging Golden Age of Mathematics

Augustus De Morgan, Karl Pearson, Sewall Wright, and Francis Galton were showing how probability could be used to give statistically reliable assessments of much that surrounds human life. Michael Faraday was mathematically organizing the idea of field theory, electromagnetism, and so on, while the logician Charles Dodgson, under the pen name of Lewis Carroll, was writing children’s books to entice children into consideration of paradox. Moreover, Giuseppe Peano, Gottlob Frege, Georg Cantor, G. H. Hardy, John Littlewood, Alfred North Whitehead, David Hilbert, Bertrand Russell, and so many others were swirling in a dazzling world of mathematically based achievement.

In this regard, Noether’s story is much like the story of Hypatia, the first notable woman mathematician discussed in a previous chapter. Each woman was respected for achievement, but neither was welcomed into the male-dominated world of foundational mathematics. Still, each was so full of passion for the subject that neither could let go.

Why would a supremely talented woman like Noether stay so steadfastly absorbed in mathematics? Surely it could not be because women were treated well in the mathematics community. They might be treated well by those closest to them who admired their prowess, but the international mathematical community often took little notice even when their colleagues tried to share at least some public accolades with them. What kept the few women who persisted? Simply, it was unrelenting passion for the subject.

In the past few years, things have begun to change for women. The first Fields Medal to ever be awarded to a woman was given in 2014 to Maryam Mirzakhani ‌‌‌‌‌and in 2019 the first Abel prize awarded to a woman was awarded to Karen Uhlenbeck. These prizes are routinely referred to as the “Nobels of mathematics.”

Biographies of these women emphasize their passion, not for calculation, but for the search for truth. Each is a hero of the mathematical personality as much as any male hero in mathematical history. The biographies of these women are colorful and available at every reading level from elementary school through high school. (See, for example, Maryam’s Magic: The Story of Woman Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani by Megan Reid and Aliya Jaleel, 2021.) The STEM programs using rubric-based processes stressing technology to increase the speed and accuracy of calculation may have razzle-dazzle about them, but they fail to reveal the personality of math and the relevant commonalities in the personalities of heroic mathematicians over the ages.

STEM programs that merely hype some women’s success stories in math-driven industries, computing, and business as exhibiting being good at math are reaching low-hanging fruit. Women who became champions of math and STEM interests ought to make their stories available in every math curriculum. Women who unrelentingly refuse to give up serious study have adventurous zeal, courage, and passion for truth, as do all mathematical heroes. Each of these heroines is acting in a way reminiscent of George Mallory’s explanation for why he attempted Mount Everest: Because it was there! The challenge of the mathematical

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