Sophie's Diary: A Mathematical Novel Spectrum Series

The French mathematician Sophie Germain was the first woman in the history of mathematics to make a substantial contribution to the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem. Much published research about Germain focuses on her mathematical feats, made under an assumed male name, yet no biography has explained how Germain learned mathematics before that time. Sophie's Diary: A Mathematical Novel is an attempt to answer this question. It chronicles the coming of age of a teenager learning mathematics on her own, growing up during the most turbulent years of the French Revolution. The fictionalised diary uses mathematics and historically accurate accounts of the social chaos that reigned in Paris between 1789 and 1794 to describe Germain's remarkable learning journey. The intellectual and personal struggles of this exceptional young woman will inspire a variety of readers, both students and teachers, mathematicians and novices.

1. Awakening; 2. Discovery; 3. Introspection; 4. Under siege; 5. Upon the threshold; 6. Intellectual discovery; 7. Knocking on Heaven's door; Author's note; A biographical sketch of Marie-Sophie Germain; Index.

Dora Musielak is an engineer scientist by training. She studied at the Polytechnic Institute of Mexico where she became the first woman in Latin America to earn the title of engineer in aeronautics. She emigrated to the United States to study aerospace engineering, completing her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees and pursuing research related to rocket propulsion. Dora Musielak is the recipient of two NASA research fellowships and now teaches science and engineering at the University of Texas, Arlington. She is a member of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Association of Women in Science (AWIS).