Einstein's Tutor: The Story of Emmy Noether and the Invention of Modern Physics

By Lee Phillips

A revelatory story of the woman who made foundational contributions to science and mathematics and persevered in the face of discrimination.

Emmy Noether's mathematical genius enabled Einstein to bring his General Theory of Relativity-the basis of our current theory of gravity-to fruition. On a larger scale, what came to be known as "Noether's Theorem"--called by a Nobel laureate "the single most profound result in all of physics"--supplied the basis for the most accurate theory in the history of physics, the Standard Model, which forms our modern theory of matter.

Noether's life story is equally important and revelatory in understanding the pernicious nature of sexual prejudice in the sciences, revealing the shocking discrimination against one of the true intellectual giants of the twentieth century, a woman effectively excluded from the opportunities given to her male counterparts. Noether's personality and optimistic spirit, as Lee Phillips reveals, enabled her unique genius to persevere and arrive at insights that still astonish those who encounter them a century later.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1541702956
• ISBN13: 9781541702950
• Release Date: September 2024
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Einstein's Tutor Reveals How Amy Noether's Mathematics helped Einstein Simplify and Complete General

Mathematician Amy Noether was denied academic acceptance and employment in Germany because she was a woman. She audited classes for which she was denied enrollment, not employed after completing her doctorate and had to publish her research using the name of a willing male professor. Her insight and Theorem gave physics a new insight. Einstein was having some difficulty with the math used for General Relativity and Amy Noether provided insight and help; hence the tutor title. Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania gave her faculty rights and status to escape the Nazis in Germany. The book is easy to read and does not use equations to demonstrate her ability.