Emma Lehmer facts for kids

Emma Markovna Lehmer (born Trotskaia) was a very smart mathematician. She was born on November 6, 1906, and passed away on May 7, 2007. Emma was famous for her work in a part of math called number theory. She studied special rules about numbers, like how they relate to each other. She liked working with real numbers and calculations, not just abstract ideas.

Her Life Story

Emma was born in a city called Samara in Russia. In 1910, when she was four, her family moved to Harbin, China. This was because her father worked for a sugar company.

Emma learned at home until she was 14 years old. Then, a school opened nearby, and she started going there. Later, she traveled all the way to the United States to go to college.

College and Family

In 1924, Emma started studying engineering at the UC Berkeley. But she soon found that she loved mathematics even more. One of her math professors was Derrick Norman Lehmer. He was a famous number theorist. He studied prime numbers and how to break numbers down into their smallest parts.

While working for Professor Lehmer, Emma met his son, Derrick Henry Lehmer. He would later become her husband. Emma finished her degree in Mathematics in 1928. She graduated with top honors, which is called summa cum laude. After graduating, she married Derrick H. Lehmer.

They both moved to Brown University. Emma earned her Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree there in 1930. Derrick earned his Ph.D. in the same year. Emma did not get a Ph.D. herself. At that time, many universities had rules. These rules often stopped both a husband and wife from teaching there. Emma said there were good things about not having a Ph.D.

Emma and Derrick had two children. Their daughter, Laura, was born in 1932. Their son, Donald, was born in 1934.

What She Achieved

Emma Lehmer did a lot of important math work on her own. She even translated a math book from Russian to English. The book was called Topological Groups by a mathematician named Pontryagin.

She also worked very closely with her husband, Derrick. They published 21 math papers together. In total, Emma published 56 papers. Her work was mostly about number theory and computer calculations. She focused on special rules for numbers and how they fit together.

A famous mathematician named Paul Halmos wrote about Emma's translation. He said people sometimes called her "Emma Lemma" because her translation was so good. Other math books also mentioned her translation. This shows how important her work was.

See also

In Spanish: Emma Lehmer para niños