https://www.pinterest.com/pin/157907530660468090/ There is a certain stigma about women and math that has always made me a little angry. Some people believe that women just can't be good at math or that math is a man's expertise. I experienced this stereotype when I was young. When someone would ask me my favorite subject, I always would say I love math. I was a natural at it and numbers made sense to me. I excelled at math growing up. One boy's response to math being my favorite subject was, "But you're a GIRL!" I was not sure how to respond to that, so I just walked away very confused. I will never forget this conversation, and I will never forget how it bothered me.
So to show that woman can indeed do math I decided to do a little research on successful women mathematicians. Turns out there are tons of girls that love math, and many that are pretty dang good at it.
This here is Hedy Lamarr. This woman has many talents. She is a great actress, but she also was pretty math savvy. Womansinventors.com says "Austrian actress Hedy Lamarr (born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler) also became a pioneer in the field of wireless communications following her emigration to the United States. The international beauty icon, along with co-inventor George Anthiel, developed a "Secret Communications System" to help combat the Nazis in World War II. By manipulating radio frequencies at irregular intervals between transmission and reception, the invention formed an unbreakable code to prevent classified messages from being intercepted by enemy personnel." This incredible invention patented in 1941 eventually became the technical backbone for cellphones, fax machines, bluetooth technologies, and other communications devices. The funny thing is that she hardly got recognized for her amazing invention until 1997 when she received the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Pioneer Award, over 50 years later!
If we go back in time to the pioneers of math we find Hypatia, a Greek mathematician. This incredible woman became head of the Platonist school at Alexandria in about 400 AD. There she lectured on mathematics and philosophy. Unfortunately, many Christians saw Hypatia's work with the sciences as paganism and she was brutally murdered for it by Nitrian monks. Hypatia is recognized as one of the first women to publicly make an impact on the development of mathematics.
http://www.women-inventors.com/Hedy-Lammar.asp
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Hypatia.html
A drawing of Hypatia from patheos.com
Another great mathematician is Emmy Noether. Noether is known for her contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics. She developed the theories of rings, fields, and algebras. In physics, Noether's theorem explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws. Noether also faced certain persecutions being a Jewish woman trying to get a good education in Germany. Later, she went on to be a teacher and professor. This woman truly was incredible and I hope to study her more in the future.
https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/noether.htm
https://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/noether.htm
I could go on and on finding wonderful women that contributed to the study of mathematics, but I think I will stop here for now. I'm glad that it really isn't hard at all to prove that women are great at math! I appreciate the work that all mathematicians have done in the field, both men and women!
As for me and my math story I couldn't be more proud of my progress. If someone told me that I would be a math major when I was in middle school or even high school I probably would not have believed them, but my natural ability for math and my interest in numbers has gotten me a long way. I have one more semester of math classes (3 more) before I can complete that part of my degree. Ever sense starting college I have never felt looked down upon for my ability in math because I am a girl. I do often ask a lot of questions though, and I might be the annoying kid who doesn't get it at first sometimes. Nonetheless, I am glad I pursued a career in math education and I cannot wait to start teaching some children!
As for me and my math story I couldn't be more proud of my progress. If someone told me that I would be a math major when I was in middle school or even high school I probably would not have believed them, but my natural ability for math and my interest in numbers has gotten me a long way. I have one more semester of math classes (3 more) before I can complete that part of my degree. Ever sense starting college I have never felt looked down upon for my ability in math because I am a girl. I do often ask a lot of questions though, and I might be the annoying kid who doesn't get it at first sometimes. Nonetheless, I am glad I pursued a career in math education and I cannot wait to start teaching some children!
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