48

Twenty Years Old

“Who’s familiar with Marie-Sophie Germain?”

It’s October of Salem’s first semester at the University of Minnesota. It’s taken her two years after high school to work up the courage to attend college. The campus is picturesque, the mall full of street preachers and gyro vendors hoping to catch students between classes. Different languages mingle with the Minnesota accents, the fluid threading the nasal, and students argue Karl Marx and Britney Spears with equal fervor beneath century-old oaks that drop their leaves like blessings. The air smells of woodsmoke and possibility, and despite her agoraphobia, Salem feels a tremor of excitement when she is on campus.

She also harbors a deep crush on Dr. Ventura, her only unmarried male professor. Yet, she doesn’t answer his question about Marie-Sophie Germain. It’s not because of her embarrassing attraction to Dr. Ventura. She doesn’t even keep her hand down because she’d rather set herself on fire than voluntarily speak up in class.

Rather, she has no idea who Marie-Sophie Germain is.

She isn’t alone. Dr. Ventura scans his CS236 Cryptography class, one of the most popular on campus. There are over a hundred students registered and almost all attend regularly. Not one of them has raised their hand.

Dr. Ventura nods as if he’d expected this. “Sophie Germain was one of the greatest mathematicians who has ever lived.” As his students whisper their surprise, he advances the PowerPoint slide, introducing a sketched profile of a strong-nosed woman in her forties, hair tied in braided buns Princess Leia–style. Her name is written underneath the profile, and below that, the years 1776–1831.

“She was born in France at a time where women were not taught math unless they were aristocrats, and then only enough to make polite conversation. The single textbook they were allowed to read on the subject was Francesco Algarotti’s Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy Explain’d for the Use of Ladies. Because Algarotti believed women could only understand math and science if it was put in romantic terms, he presented Newton’s theories as if they were a discussion between a man and the young woman he was courting.”

A student behind Salem snickers.

“So you’ll be unsurprised to learn that in this climate and time, women were not allowed entrance to the institutes of math, which is why Germain had to impersonate a man to attend the École Polytechnique in Paris.” Dr. Ventura unconsciously runs his hands through his thick, graying hair in a move that he’d likely be embarrassed to find out was called “the Fabio” by giggling sorority pledges. “Despite this, Germain reached out to and was mentored by the leading mathematician of her time, Carl Friedrich Gauss. She also built the foundational insight upon which Fermat’s Enigma was eventually solved and wrote a paper on the elasticity of metal that was so revolutionary that her findings are still being used today, over two hundred years later.”

He pauses.

If their silence is a marker, the class is suitably impressed. Salem is busy scribbling down notes. She’ll need to email him for the PowerPoint after class to make sure she hasn’t missed anything.

“Do you know why I’m telling you this?” He moves toward the front row to stand directly in front of Salem. Is he looking at her?

“Because it’s important?” a student yells from the back row. Salem turns to look, flustered by Dr. Ventura’s nearness. She recognizes the student from the football team.

“No,” he says, smiling, “but thank you for giving me hope for today’s youth. I’m telling you this because in Sophie Germain’s story is everything you need to know about cryptography.” He smacks his hands together, but he doesn’t need to. He commands the attention of every mind in the room.

“When you are breaking a code, whether a cipher or the most intricate computer encryption, countless apparently insurmountable barriers will be thrown your way. The solution will seem impossible. You’ll reach a point where you think it’s more likely you could grow wings and fly than crack it. But if you persevere—and you must persevere—you will solve your puzzle.”

This time he definitely makes eye contact with Salem.