Germain’s best work was in number theory, and her most significant contribution to number theory dealt with Fermat’s Last Theorem. In 1815, after the elasticity contest, the Academy offered a prize for a proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem.

Hilbert’s 17th problem asks whether such a polynomial can always be written as the sum of squares of rational functions (a rational function is the quotient of two polynomials). In 1927, Emil Artin solved the question in the affirmative.

Of the 23 problems, three were unresolved in 2012, three were too vague to be resolved, and six could be partially solved. Given the influence of the problems, the Clay Mathematics Institute formulated a similar list, called the Millennium Prize Problems in 2000.

David Hilbert, (born January 23, 1862, Königsberg, Prussia [now Kaliningrad, Russia]—died February 14, 1943, Göttingen, Germany), German mathematician who reduced geometry to a series of axioms and contributed substantially to the establishment of the formalistic foundations of mathematics.

Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental ideas in many areas, including invariant theory, the calculus of variations, commutative algebra, algebraic number theory, the foundations of geometry, spectral theory of operators and its application to integral equations, mathematical physics, and the …

One of Hilbert’s most important contributions was the development of what is now known as Hilbert space, in which he developed methods to extend the techniques of vector algebra and calculus to spaces with any number of dimensions.

École Polytechnique
Sophie Germain/College
Germain never formally attended any school or gained a degree during her entire life, but she was allowed to read lecture notes circulated in the Ecole Polytechnique. She passed in her papers under the pseudonym “Le Blanc.”