Thank you to my children, to whom this volume is proudly dedicated. May you achieve everything you dream of and even those things that neither you nor I can yet imagine.
I am grateful to the editors of Ars Technica for publishing an article of mine about Emmy Noether. The article led to the existence of this book, thanks to Evan Fortunato, who noticed it and brought it to the attention of my agent, Susan Rabiner. Thanks also to Dr. Fortunato for sharing with me details about the use of Noether’s theorem in his research.
Thanks to the indefatigable Ms. Rabiner for inviting me to expand the story into a book and working with me on its plan and approach.
I deeply appreciate the assistance of the librarians in charge of Bryn Mawr’s special collections in helping me to navigate several boxes of archival material related to Emmy Noether’s tenure at their beautiful campus. The government employees staffing the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, do not receive enough acknowledgment for their patient dedication to the noble profession of the librarian. I am happy to do so now and to thank them for their help in locating both routine and obscure materials.
Another dedicated group whose work goes largely unacknowledged comprises the developers of free software, which I use exclusively. Warm thanks to the creators and maintainers of Pandoc, gnuplot, Julia and its Luxor drawing package, and Linux and the civilization of Gnu tools, too numerous to list. These are the instruments that I depended on to make the diagrams in this book, to organize references, to write, and to conduct research.
My indispensable and precious friend Karina Mejía was my cheerleader throughout this project. Her empathy, curiosity, and encouragement played a big part in supplying the fuel that propelled this book to completion.
I owe a real debt to the sincere interest shown in my work by my fellow scientist and author Kevin Jensen. I walk away from our too-infrequent meetings with regret but, without fail, harboring new ideas and buoyed by a new impetus. I am proud to be your friend.
Thank you to Cinthya Lara for patiently taking dozens of photographs in an attempt to make me sufficiently presentable for the book jacket. Your rejuvenating companionship during the rare intervals when I was not writing helped me to confront each new stretch of the road ahead with equanimity.
Thank you to my sisters Melicia and Meredith and their families for their interest and hospitality at various times during this book’s gestation.
For the joy of convivial comradeship, valuable leavening of these past months of labors, I am grateful to Mileisha Zelaya, Juán Calderon, and Patricia Munguía, and a special warm thanks to my tolerant teacher and faithful friend Mónica Toro.
Finally, I am eternally grateful to Emmy Noether for leading a life that cannot fail to be an inspiration for all who learn something about it, for all time.