Emmy Noether

Noether’s theorem (1918) links every symmetry in physics to a conservation law.

For years she taught at Göttingen without pay, her lectures listed under Hilbert’s name. Einstein called her the most significant creative mathematical genius since women’s higher education began.

Her 1843 notes on Babbage’s Analytical Engine include a method for computing Bernoulli numbers, often called the first computer program.

She was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron, and imagined machines that could compose music.