Sophie Germain
Mathematician
Late 18th and early 19th-century mathematician, scientist, and philosopher. She is remembered for her contributions to number theory, differential geometry, and elasticity theory.
Her gender barred her from higher education; nevertheless, she corresponded with their scientists and mathematicians and earned a high degree of proficiency in her chosen fields.
She did a good deal of work on Pierre de Fermat's their Last Theorem.
She and her two sisters were the daughters of a Parisian silk merchant.
She corresponded early in her career with German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.