Lynn M. Osen (1920–2003)

This book was published in the early seventies. Its purpose was to make public the contributions that women had made to mathematics over the course of the centuries. The purpose is laudable, and the effort is worthwhile. It is a worthy precursor of more contemporary books. However, the chapters are really just capsule biographies with a somewhat fabulous quality. The biographies do not give sufficient background so that the general tenor of the mathematical contributions can be understood. As usual, Emmy Noether's invention of Noetherian induction is completely omitted, although it was because of this significant contribution to logic and computer science that I first learned about her.

The female mathematicians are Hypatia, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Emilie de Breteuil, Marquise du Chatelet, Caroline Herschel, Sophie Germain, Mary Fairfax Somerville, Sonya Kovalevskaia, Emmy Noether.… (mehr)