- Emma Lehmer
Infobox Person
name = Emma Lehmer
image_size =
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1906|11|6
birth_place = Samara,Russian Empire
death_date = death date and age|2007|5|7|1906|11|6
death_place =Berkeley, California ,United States
education =UC Berkeley Brown University
occupation =Mathematician
spouse =Derrick Henry Lehmer
parents =
children = Laura and DonaldEmma Markovna Lehmer (née Trotskaia) (
November 6 ,1906 –May 7 ,2007 ) [cite journal|last = Brillhart|first = John|authorlink = John Brillhart|title = Emma Lehmer 1906-2007|journal = Notices of the AMS|volume = 54|issue = 11|pages = 1500-1501|publisher =American Mathematical Society |date = December 2007|url = http://www.ams.org/notices/200711/tx071101500p.pdf|accessdate = 2008-05-09] was amathematician known for her work on reciprocity laws inalgebraic number theory . She preferred to deal with complex number fields and integers, rather than the more abstract aspects of the theory.She was born in Samara,
Russian Empire , but her father's job as a representative with a Russian sugar company moved the family toHarbin ,Manchuria in 1910. Emma was tutored at home until the age of 14, when a school was opened locally. She managed to make her way to the USA for her higher education.At
UC Berkeley , she started out in engineering in 1924, but found her niche in mathematics. One of her professors was Derrick N. Lehmer, the number theorist well known for his work on prime number tables and factorizations. While working for him at Berkeley finding pseudosquares, she met her future husband Derrick H. Lehmer. Upon her graduation summa cum lauda with a B.A. in Mathematics (1928), Emma married the younger Lehmer. They moved toBrown University , where Emma received her Sc.M., and Derrick his Ph.D, both in 1930. Emma did not obtain a Ph.D. herself. Most universities had nepotism rules which prevented husband and wife from both holding teaching positions, although Emma claimed there were many advantages to not holding a Ph.D.The Lehmers had two children, Laura (1932) and Donald (1934). Emma did independent mathematical work, including a translation from Russian to English of
Pontryagin 's book "Topological Groups". She worked closely with her husband on many projects; 21 of her 60-some publications were joint work with him. Her publications were mainly in number theory and computation, with emphasis on reciprocity laws, special primes, and congruences.References and external links
* [http://www.agnesscott.edu/LRIDDLE/WOMEN/lehmer.htm Biographies of Women Mathematicians]
* [http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/Exhibits/Math/dhla.html The Lehmers at Berkeley]
* [http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd/finding_aids/mathoral/pmc12.htm The Princeton Mathematics Community in the 1930s]
*MacTutor Biography|id=Lehmer_Emma
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