« We were told we couldn’t do math because we were women…I liked doing what I wasn’t supposed to do, it was a sort of legitimate rebellion. »
Coming to grips with success, Math Horizons (1996) :
a profile of Karen Uhlenbeck (1942 – ), First woman to win Abel Prize
« Many people who have not studied mathematics confuse it with arithmetic and consider it an arid science. In reality, however, it is a science which requires a great amount of imagination. »
In a letter to Madame Schabelskoy, quoted in Sónya Kovalévsky: Her Recollections of Childhood, translated by Isabel F. Hapgood (1895), 316, Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850 – 1891)
« It seems to me that the poet has only to perceive that which others do not perceive, to look deeper than others look. And the mathematician must do the same thing. »
In a letter to Madame Schabelskoy, quoted in Sónya Kovalévsky: Her Recollections of Childhood, translated by Isabel F. Hapgood (1895), 317, Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850 – 1891)
« Faire des mathématiques, c’est souvent se perdre dans une jungle et essayer d’utiliser toutes les informations que l’on peut rassembler pour trouver de nouvelles pistes. Avec un peu de chance, on s’en sort. »
Maryam Mirzakhani (1977 – 2017), First woman to win Fields Medal
« L’algèbre n’est qu’une géométrie écrite, la géométrie n’est qu’une algèbre figurée. »
Oeuvres philosophiques
Sophie Germain (1776 – 1831)
« Les mathématiques sont à la physique ce que la musique est à la poésie, dans un cas comme dans l’autre nous pouvons nous passer de mots. Notre manière de comprendre ce qui nous entoure c’est le théorème. »
Nalini Anantharaman (1976 – ), le monde vu par le théorème.
« My methods are really methods of working and thinking; this is why they have crept in everywhere anonymously. »
Letter to Helmut Hasse (1931),
Emmy Noether (1882 – 1935)