Inventing Mathematics – stories of mathematicians and mathematics It is a podcast by the FDS laboratory, Department of Mathematics at the Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with Metid.
The episodes are dedicated to four figures in the history of mathematics and science: Emmy Noether, Émilie du Châtelet, Maria Gaetana Agnesi and Sofia Kovalevskaya. Through their stories, scientific journeys, mathematical results and aspects of their biographies are recounted.
Emmy Noether: «Emmy doesn’t give a damn»
The first episode is dedicated to Emmy Noether, a major figure in modern algebra. A woman and a Jew in early 20th-century Germany, Noether spent much of her career in precarious positions, at times ending up teaching almost clandestinely to bypass the bans that prevented women from teaching at university. With the rise of Nazism, she was forced to flee Germany. Her work has made a fundamental contribution to the field of algebra and the famous “Noether's theorems”, now considered a milestone in theoretical physics. The episode also recounts his great passion for science, his sunny personality and that contagious laughter that struck his contemporaries and continues to capture the imagination of male and female mathematicians today.
Authors: Monica Conti, Giulio Magli, Annalisa Panati.
Émilie du Châtelet: physics and diamonds
The second episode is dedicated to Gabrielle Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet (1706-1749), known as Émilie du Châtelet. A French physicist, mathematician and writer, woman of light she is considered one of the intellects of the 18th century, participating in the great debates of her era. Du Châtelet made a decisive contribution to the popularisation of Newton's theory of gravitation and to its theoretical re-elaboration, integrating it with Leibniz's mathematical language. She was also interested in problems such as the shape of the Earth and the meaning and weight of heat and fire. Her life was divided between the duties linked to her aristocratic status and her dedication to study, between a passion for gambling and one for knowledge. Fundamental was her relationship with Voltaire, of whom he was the great love. Once their passionate relationship had ended, their intellectual partnership and deep friendship continued until Émilie's death. Voltaire stayed by her side even during the late-life childbirth that led to her premature death.
Authors: Monica Conti, Giulio Magli, Annalisa Panati.
Spoken parts: Domenico Brunetto, Monica Conti.
Neither ugly nor prettyhistory of Maria Gaetana Agnesi
The third episode is dedicated to Milanese mathematics Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799). The eldest of twenty-one children, she was born into a wealthy but not noble family. She and her sister Maria Teresa, a composer, showed great intellectual abilities from an early age, which were recognised and encouraged by their father through illustrious tutors. After studying numerous languages, Maria Gaetana developed a passion for mathematics and other sciences. The Agnesi family's drawing room became a cultural club ante litteram. In 1748 he published his most important work, the Analytical Institutions for the use of Italian Youth, written in Italian instead of Latin and dedicated to Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. The volume dealt with the nascent differential and integral calculus and, in particular, differential equations. It was a great success and was translated into French and English. It is precisely from the English translation that the famous name of comes “Witch of Agnesi” attributed to one of the curves she studied. Pope Benedict XIV offered her a chair at the University of Bologna, but Agnesi refused and withdrew from public life to dedicate herself to charitable works. When the Pio Albergo Trivulzio was established in Milan in 1771, she became its director and spent the final years of her life there.
Authors: Monica Conti, Maria Eugenia d’Acquino, Giulio Magli.
Spoken parts: Maria Eugenia d’Acquino.
Music consultancy Carlo Centemeri.
The lady of the orbits: Katherine Johnson
The fourth episode is dedicated to US mathematics Katherine Johnson (1918-2020), a pivotal figure in the history of American space exploration.
Gifted with an extraordinary ability to handle complex calculations, Johnson managed to establish herself as Black woman in the America marked by racial segregation and gender discrimination. Having joined NASA in the years when electronic computers were still in their infancy, she made a decisive contribution to the development of the US space programmes.
His work was concerned in particular with calculation of space mission trajectories, including those necessary to guarantee the astronauts' return to Earth. The precision and reliability of her calculations made her a figurehead in some of the decisive stages of the space race.
In the final years of her long life she received numerous awards for her contribution to science and space exploration. In 2015 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest civilian honours of the United States.
The episode is enriched by the participation of Amalia Ercoli Finzi, a great Italian scientist known as the “Mistress of the orbits”, which accompanies the account of the work and scientific legacy of Katherine Johnson.
Con: Camilla Colombo and the special guest appearance by Amalia Ercoli Finzi.
Texts: Camilla Colombo, Monica Conti, Giulio Magli.
Sofia Kovalevsky, the princess of science
The fifth episode is dedicated to Russian mathematics Sofia Kovalevsky (1850-1891), writer and intellectual, protagonist of a life marked by a passion for science and the fight for women's access to education. In tsarist Russia, where women could not attend university, Sofia contracted a fictitious marriage with Vladimir Kovalevskij to be able to leave the country and study in Europe. In Germany he met Karl Weierstrass, who recognised her talent and agreed to tutor her privately. She later obtained her doctorate in Göttingen with highly significant works, including the one linked to the famous Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem on partial differential equations. Her life intertwined mathematics, literature and politics. Close to the circles of Russian nihilism, she was also the author of literary works and lived through some of the great cultural and political upheavals of 19th-century Europe.
In 1883 he began his academic career in Sweden. His studies on the motion of rigid bodies led to the discovery of the so-called “Kowalevski top”, a result that earned her in 1888 the prestigious Bordin Prize of the Paris Academy of Sciences. Kovalevsky died prematurely in 1891, at just 41 years of age. The episode presents a portrait of a figure who is difficult to encapsulate in a single definition: great mathematician, writer and intellectual, capable of leaving a deep mark on the science and culture of their time.
The podcast is available on Spotify as well as the other main platforms: Spreaker, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music / Audible, Castbox, Deezer, Podcast Addict, Podchaser.