Amalie Emmy Noether Fellowship

Noether's Legacy

Amalie Emmy Noether, a German mathematician known for her contributions to abstract algebra, stands as a trailblazer in the field. She defied convention by earning a doctorate in mathematics in 1907 at a time when women typically were excluded from academic positions. In 1915, she proved Noether’s theorem, a fundamental of mathematical physics that explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws.

Although she spent the bulk of her early career as an unpaid (sometimes uncredited) “assistant” and did earn the title of professor, Noether never achieved the rank of full professor in her native Germany.

Noether was among many academics who fled Germany prior to World War II. In 1933, she joined the faculty at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, where she taught mathematics, and lectured at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton until her death in 1935.

The Amalie Emmy Noether Fellowship in Applied Mathematics and Scientific Computing honors Noether, who faced open resistance due to gender and ethnic discrimination yet surmounted those challenges to make some of the most significant advances in her elected research field.

Those inspired by Noether’s legacy are encouraged to apply.