Overview
- Explores the origins and growth of women’s role in the mathematics community
- Recounts the evolution of women’s experience from being “singular” to “normal”
- Employs a variety of historiographical methods
Part of the book series: Women in the History of Philosophy and Sciences (WHPS, volume 6)
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About this book
This book presents an overview of the ways in which women have been able to conduct mathematical research since the 18th century, despite their general exclusion from the sciences. Grouped into four thematic sections, the authors concentrate on well-known figures like Sophie Germain and Grace Chisholm Young, as well as those who have remained unnoticed by historians so far. Among them are Stanisława Nidodym, the first female students at the universities in Prague at the turn of the 20th century, and the first female professors of mathematics in Denmark. Highlighting individual biographies, couples in science, the situation at specific European universities, and sociological factors influencing specific careers from the 18th century to the present, the authors trace female mathematicians’ status as it evolved from singular and anomalous to virtually commonplace.
The book also offers insights into the various obstacles women faced when trying to enter perhaps the “most male” discipline of all, and how some of them continue to shape young girls’ self-perceptions and career choices today. Thus, it will benefit scholars and students in STEM disciplines, gender studies and the history of science; women in science, mathematics and at institutions, and those working in mathematics education.
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Keywords
Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Perspectives
Reviews
“The book is a pleasant read and should appeal to a wide audience across disciplines. There are no mathematical prerequisites to full comprehension and as an introductory text the meta discussions contain robust citations to the past century of the historiography of women in science. … I strongly recommend the adoption of this book for individual or classroom use.” (Jeema Lorenat, MAA Reviews, July 4, 2022)
“Against All Odds: Women’s Ways to Mathematical Research Since 1800 offers various historiographic strategies as it ambitiously attends to centering the lives and experiences of women among the vanguard of professional transformations. … the collection is most commendable for incorporating and advocating for ways of examining the past that will likely prove more effective in encouraging students of mathematics to ask and explore questions of historical, as well as contemporary, significance about their chosen discipline.” (K. G. Valente, Metascience, Vol. 30, July 13, 2021)
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Nicola Oswald graduated from the University of Wurzburg with a dissertation in Number Theory. She is currently investigating the history of modern mathematics, in particular with regard to Adolf Hurwitz, at the University of Wuppertal. In 2017/18 she was a Guest Professor for Mathematics and Gender at the University of Hannover.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Against All Odds
Book Subtitle: Women’s Ways to Mathematical Research Since 1800
Editors: Eva Kaufholz-Soldat, Nicola M.R. Oswald
Series Title: Women in the History of Philosophy and Sciences
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47610-6
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-47609-0Published: 30 July 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-47612-0Published: 31 July 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-47610-6Published: 29 July 2020
Series ISSN: 2523-8760
Series E-ISSN: 2523-8779
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXI, 319
Number of Illustrations: 11 b/w illustrations, 10 illustrations in colour
Topics: Philosophy of Education, Women's Studies, History of Mathematical Sciences, History of Science, Historiography and Method