In Iceland, the Laki volcano erupted violently for 8 months, releasing toxic sulfur into the air — indeed, over 120 million tons were released. This event forced many to stay inside, including a young girl named Sophie Germain. Born in Paris, France, on April 1, 1776, Sophie Germain was the second of three sisters. Her father owned a thriving business and was involved in politics, offering affluence to Sophie’s life. She was a shy child, so when she was forced to remain indoors, she most likely wasn’t particularly upset about it. While passing the time reading, she found herself interested in the story of Archimedes. Her father owned a large collection of books, and compelled by the story of Archimedes, she began self-studying mathematics.

Despite Sophie’s keen interest in mathematics, her parents objected to her self-study. As a result, they shut off the heating in her room in hopes of stopping her. Instead, Sophie used candles to heat herself as she worked. Her parents eventually conceded after finding her asleep with a candle, huddled in a blanket with a book. Sophie studied the works of numerous famous mathematicians, including Isaac Newton and Leonard Euler. These books were in Latin, forcing her to learn the language by herself. In addition, she also found herself reading books about philosophy and psychology.

Later in life, Sophie was faced with an exciting opportunity. A new college was opening, the École Polytechnique. However, due to gender inequalities at the time, she was not able to attend. To get around this, Sophie submitted her research work under the name of Lagrange. This didn’t work for long, and she was soon caught, but the professor was impressed and arranged meetings with her, beginning to spread her name.

Because she was a woman, it was hard to arrange meetings, and communication typically occurred through mail. Additionally, a rounded mathematical education was a challenge to obtain. Eventually, she came across the works of Carl Gauss, and ended up connecting with him to research under the male gender. Later in her career, a competition arose: Napoleon Bonaparte offered a prize for the development of a mathematical theory of elastic surfaces. Enticed, she worked away and–after three attempts–won the highly prestigious Paris Academy of Sciences Prize.

Sophie was unfortunately diagnosed with breast cancer, passing away at age 55 on June 27, 1831. She never married, had no children, and was able to financially support herself with her father’s lucrative business. Sophie Germain has many lasting theories, one of which is her Sophie Germain primes (primes found by the equation 2p+1, where p is also a prime number).