All things considered, she was probably the most profoundly intellectual woman that France has ever produced. And yet, strange as it may seem, when the state official came to make out her death certificate, he designated her as a "rentiere-annuitant" (a single woman with no profession) -- not as a "mathematicienne." Nor is this all. When the Eiffel Tower was erected, there was inscribed on this lofty structure the names of seventy-two savants. But one will not find in this list the name of that daughter of genius, whose researches contributed so much toward establishing the theory of the elasticity of metals -- Germain Germain. Was she excluded from this list for the same reason she was ineligible for membership in the French Academy -- because she was a woman? If such, indeed, was the case, more is the shame for those who were responsible for such ingratitude toward one who had deserved so well of science, and who by her achievements had won an enviable place in the hall of fame. .

             H. J. Mozans, 1913 Sophie Germain was born in Paris on April 1, 1776 to Ambroise-Francois and Marie Germain. It was a time of worldwide social and political upheaval. The same year, a group of rebels across the Atlantic Ocean declared their independence from Great Britain. A little more than a decade later, the people of her own country would overthrow their government in an attempt to incur social changes. It was a time in which only males and members of the aristocracy were educated and allowed to pursue their academic, political or business interests. Germain would grow and rebel against this standard, advance the fields of mathematics and physics, and become one of the most accomplished academics of her time.

             When Germain was thirteen years old, the French Revolution had begun, making Paris a dangerous place to live. Germain"s parents confined her to her house, where she had little to do but read from her father"s library.