91´«Ã½

When former 91´«Ã½ faculty member Emmy Noether died in 1935, Albert Einstein wrote to The New York Times that she was "the most significant creative mathematical genius thus far produced since the higher education of women began."

On Thursday, Sept. 22, at 7:30 p.m.,  in cooperation with  will present Diving into Math with Emmy Noether, a theater performance about Noether's extraordinary life and contributions to mathematics and physics. The performance will take place in the Hepburn Teaching Theater in Goodhart Hall.

Among those who have done the most to keep Noether's legacy known and documented is Associate Professor of German Qinna Shen.

Shen is one of the organizers who brought the event to 91´«Ã½. In 2019, her article  was published in the journal Mathematical Intelligencer.

"Whereas Noether's earlier life and work in Erlangen and Göttingen is well documented, many of the materials concerning her emigration and time at 91´«Ã½ have not yet been collected and organized," writes Shen in the article. "This essay aims to undertake that task and to make the story of Noether, still recognized as the greatest woman in her field, known beyond the circle of mathematicians and physicists."

In the article, Shen writes about how Noether was able to escape Germany in 1933 and come to 91´«Ã½ through the efforts of the Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced German Scholars and 91´«Ã½ President Marion Edwards Park among others.

Filled with correspondence from Park and Noether, Shen's article looks at the many factors that led the mathematician to finally choose 91´«Ã½.

Complications from surgery cut Noether's life short at the age of 53, but prior to her death, she confided to a colleague that her time at 91´«Ã½ had been the "happiest in her whole life." 

"I am thrilled that the Noether play is finally coming to 91´«Ã½," says Shen. "The original plan of having the premiere of its U.S. tour at 91´«Ã½ was upstaged by the pandemic but I know that having a performance at Noether’s second is of special meaning to the troupe. I am also happy that my article made the role of 91´«Ã½ in Noether’s life better known and, in so doing, helped revive the memory of Noether."