Paulette Libermann facts for kids

Paulette Libermann (born November 14, 1919 – died July 10, 2007) was a brilliant French mathematician. She was known for her work in differential geometry, which is a branch of mathematics that uses tools from calculus to study shapes and spaces.

Her Early Life and Schooling

Paulette Libermann was one of three sisters. Her family were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Ukraine who had moved to Paris, France.

She went to school at the Lycée Lamartine. In 1938, she started her university studies at the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles. This was a special college in Sèvres that trained women to become school teachers.

The school's new director, Eugénie Cotton, wanted the college to be as good as the best schools for men. Because of this, Paulette was lucky enough to be taught by some of the most important mathematicians of her time. These included Élie Cartan, Jacqueline Ferrand, and André Lichnerowicz.

Two years later, after finishing her studies, Paulette faced a big challenge. She was stopped from taking an important exam called the agrégation, which would have allowed her to become a teacher. This was because of unfair laws during the German occupation of France in World War II.

However, Eugénie Cotton helped her by giving her a scholarship. This allowed Paulette to start doing research under the guidance of Élie Cartan.

In 1942, Paulette and her family had to leave Paris. They moved to Lyon, where they stayed hidden for two years to keep safe during the difficult war times. After Paris was freed in 1944, she went back to Sèvres. She was then able to complete her studies and pass the agrégation exam.

Her Amazing Career

After becoming a qualified teacher, Paulette Libermann taught for a short time at a school in Douai. Then, she received a scholarship to study at Oxford University in England. She studied there between 1945 and 1947 and earned a bachelor's degree. Her supervisor at Oxford was J. H. C. Whitehead.

From 1947 to 1951, she worked as a teacher at a girls' school in Strasbourg. But she also kept up her research at Louis Pasteur University. Élie Cartan encouraged her to continue her important mathematical work.

In 1951, Paulette decided to focus fully on research. She took a research job at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique. This is a famous French organization for scientific research. In 1953, she finished her PhD. Her doctoral thesis was called Sur le problème d’équivalence de certaines structures infinitésimales. This translates to "On the equivalence problem of certain infinitesimal structures." Her supervisor for this important work was Charles Ehresmann.

After earning her PhD, Paulette Libermann became an assistant professor at the University of Rennes in 1954. She then became a full professor at the same university in 1958. In 1966, she moved to the University of Paris. When that university split into different parts in 1968, she joined Paris Diderot University. She taught and researched there until she retired in 1986.

What She Studied

Paulette Libermann's research covered many different areas of mathematics. She focused on differential geometry and global analysis. These fields study shapes, spaces, and how they change.

She worked on advanced topics like G-structures and Cartan's equivalence method. She also studied Lie groupoids and Lie pseudogroups, which are complex mathematical structures. Her work also included higher-order connections and contact geometry.

In 1987, she wrote an important textbook with Charles-Michel Marle. This book was one of the first to explain symplectic geometry and analytical mechanics. These are key areas in mathematics and physics that help describe how things move.

See also

In Spanish: Paulette Libermann para niños