Did Emmy Noether ever publish under a man's name? - MathOverflow

Did Emmy Noether ever publish under a man's name?

2012-03-28T04:06:09Z

A recent article in the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/27/science/emmy-noether-the-most-significant-mathematician-youve-never-heard-of.html?pagewanted=all says, among other things, "Noether was a highly prolific mathematician, publishing groundbreaking papers, sometimes under a man’s name, in rarefied fields of abstract algebra and ring theory." This is the first I have ever heard of Emmy Noether publishing under a male pseudonym, and I ask whether anyone can confirm, or refute, the assertion in the Times.

I wonder if the author is confusing Emmy with her mathematician father Max; or if the author has in mind times when Noether gave lectures that were advertised as Hilbert's; or if the author has in mind Sophie Germain, who wrote under the name M. LeBlanc.

EDIT: I have an answer from the writer, and it appears that Zsban hit the nail on the head in a comment. The writer says her point was badly phrased, and she was referring to Noether's letting (male) students and colleagues publish her ideas as if those ideas were their own. My thanks to all who have contributed here.

Answer by Franz Lemmermeyer for Did Emmy Noether ever publish under a man's name?

2012-03-28T04:41:17Z

In absence of any evidence (she has collected works, and there are various people who have studied her biography) this is nonsense. In addition, this would not at all be compatible with Emmy Noether's character.

Answer by Nate Eldredge for Did Emmy Noether ever publish under a man's name?

2012-03-28T15:21:57Z

I have a copy of her biography, Emmy Noether, 1882-1935 by Auguste Dick (translated to English by H.I. Blocher). Appendix A contains a list of 43 publications, apparently complete, and not one is indicated as being published pseudonymously. Of course a few had male co-authors, but that is not the same at all.

Also, I skimmed the text of the book and could find no reference to such a thing.

If Natalie Angier, the author of the New York Times article, is aware of a pseudonymous Noether paper, she would seem to be the only one.

I agree with Allen Knutson that a letter to the paper's corrections department is in order.

Answer by Will Jagy for Did Emmy Noether ever publish under a man's name?

2012-03-28T22:44:26Z

EDIT: it appears I am behind Gerry by about 16 hours. That's what comes of not reading ALL the comments. Sigh.

There was an option to email the author by clicking on something, I sent: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Dear Ms. Angier, We are having trouble substantiating your suggestion that Emmy Noether sometimes published under a man's name. She did sometimes have male co-authors, of course. Please see http://mathoverflow.net/questions/92439/did-emmy-noether-ever-publish-under-a-mans-name In short, we think that she never published anything under a man's name. If you know otherwise for certain, I would be interested in details.

Sincerely,

William C. Jagy

Berkeley, CA

http://mathoverflow.net/users/3324/will-jagy

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

NOTE this is not the same as a letter to the editor or to a corrections department.