In her days, women were not supposed to study mathematics, they weren't even supposed to be able to grasp math. However, as Levi presents the story, Mademoiselle Germain was captivated when she was still a kid by the story of Archimedes. The classic mathematician was so immersed in his math problem during a war, that he scowled at a an enemy soldier for disturbing him and consequently was killed. 'A problem so captivating, one risks death, that must be worth studying', Ran Levi has Sophie think. And so she embarks on investing her time in math, against all odds.She impersonates a Monsieur Le Blanc in order to be admitted to the Academy. She ventures on solving Fermat's last Theorem (Levi plays a sound clip with Andrew Wiles that stems, it seems to me, from the BBC series about Fermat's last theorem. A pity there are no acknowledgments) and this brings her in contact with the great minds of math in her day. Among others she corresponds with the Prussian Gauss and to be on the safe side, she persists in using the pseudonym Monsieur Le Blanc.
When France and Prussia get into war and the French occupy Prussia, the story of Archimedes pops up again in our podcast. The first function was to deliver Sophie to math, the second is to make her worry about the fate of Gauss during the war. One may doubt the veracity of the construction, but for the narrative this construction is of great value. It helps all the facts fit into an effective composition and keeps the listener engaged and makes the story stick.
Previously:
Max Planck,
Isaac Newton,
Making History with Ran Levy - Hebrew Review
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