Against all odds. Women's ways to mathematical research since 1800 (Q2191136)

In this book, a collection of chapters, an overview of women mathematicians and their way to overcome the odds in different countries with different educational systems since the 18th century is presented. It is divided into four parts -- Institutions, Couples, Approaches and Perspectives -- and includes classical biographies, interdisciplinary analysis, archival work, oral history and analysis of quantitative statistics. In the first part, three institutions are considered -- Felix Klein's courses at the University of Göttingen, then the University of Würzburg, and finally the universities in Prague. The influence of Felix Klein on female mathematicians is very important. In his courses, such women as Sofia Kovalevskaya, Sophie Germain and Ada Lovelace took part. A very informative table of women enrolled in Felix Klein's courses is provided, as well as the first female members of the German Mathematical Society. The next chapters focus on female studying and doing mathematics at the University of Würzburg (Bavaria) and the three universities in Prague -- the German University, the Czech University and the Charles University. The second part of the book presents three couples in mathematics -- Grace Chisholm Young and William Henry Young working in set theory, Emma and Wladimir Woytinsky working in statistics, and Stanisława and Otton Nikodym working in topology. The integration of research into a family context of these three couples is a very good example of sharing expertise and collaborating ideas. In the third part, called Approaches, three female's investigations in mathematics are provided through rather different approaches. The first one is the work of the French mathematician Sophie Germain in the theory of elasticity and numbers. The English mathematician Dorothy Wrinch, born in Argentina, working in the field of protein chemistry spent her long career on the borderlines between mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. Four Danish women mathematicians working in the field of number theory are presented through interviews. In the last part, Perspectives, a bridge between women mathematicians' past and present is provided. It gives the path which will allow young women scientists to overcome sex and race as well as gender, ethnicity and class in science.