Was I the only one interested in David Fowler's provocation for
his research in Boyer's index?
> I've just listened to a poignant play about Sophie
> Germain on the radio,
I wrote to Prof. Fowler and asked for more information. With
his permission, I post his reply. Thank you Professor Fowler.
> It was a play written for the British radio (BBC4),
> the 3rd and last in a series called 'Real Women',
> broadcast Friday afternoon, November 6. This one was
> called 'A Spinster of No Profession' by Judith French,
> and its resume was: "Using an assumed name Sophie Germain
> corresponds with Carl Fredrich Gauss, the most famous
> mathematician of the French revolutionary age."
>
> The play was framed by her death and meeting with the
> spirits of famous mathematicians of her age, several of
> whom she had had contact with. Clearly a lot of the text
> was quotations. The dramatic issue was that Gauss, having
> written a generous letter on finding that she was a woman,
> didn't reply to her letters for 30 years, up to her death.
> The thing that I wanted to check was that, in the play, he
> sends a letter which apologises generously for this inexcusable
> lapse that she receives on her death-bed; it is read out to
> her, and her dying request was that they should burn it. Then,
> if I interpreted the sound-track correctly, we hear the sound
> of them burning it.
>
> I've just telphoned the BBC to see if it is available, but
> their duty officer said it wasn't, in any form, and that they
> didn't normally sell such recordings. For more enquires, he
> said that one should telephone the BBC number +44 171 580 4468
> and ask for the Audio Collection, BBC Worldwide, during office
> hours. For further details, he said to consult their Website,
> www.beeb.com (that looks a bit short to me). They don't have an
> email address for this kind of thing, he said, which surprised
> me; I pressed him on this, but he stuck to his point.
>
>David Fowler
I should note that I checked in Bucciarelli and Dworsky, "Sophie
Germain, An Essay in the History of Elasticity," and there is no
mention of the deathbed letter. Also, it is not quite true that the
generous letter ("But when a woman, because of her sex, our customs
and prejudices, encounters infinitely more obstacles than men in
familiarizing herself with their knotty problems, yet overcomes
these fetters and penetrates that which is most hidden, she
doubtless has the most noble courage, extraordinary talent, and
superior genius.") was the last letter written by Gauss to Germain.
There was one more dated 19 January 1808 (the generous letter was
30 April 1807); it was mostly an apology for not responding to her
letter of 27 June 1807. Germain wrote several more times, as late
as 1829, but, according to Bucciarelli and Dworsky, Gauss never
replied again.
Steve Kennedy