Sophie Germain: mathématicienne extraordinaire - Scripps College

Conclusion 70
quently to their success. She was not intimidated by complex computations
and her approaches can be considered rather basic, working literally from
the fundamental principles of mathematics rather than from the contrived
approaches of others. [1; 3].
We can be sure that it was not her acclaimed modesty which kept her
name off of the list on the Eiffel Tower. Of the 79 male scientist who contributed
to the advancement of science knowledge which permitted the
construction of the tower, her contribution to the theory of elasticity was
one of the most pivotal. [7] Unfortunately, like her contribution to number
theory, much of her work went unpublished for years, eventually becoming
just a theory in the works of “great mathematicians” like Poisson and
Legendre. Nevertheless, Sophie Germain earned her way into the history
of mathematics; she deserves to be remembered, not as an amazing woman,
but as a hard-working mathematician whose work paved the way for many
future mathematicians.