Einstein’s Tutor

“Major studies of Albert Einstein’s work contain minimal, if any, reference to the role of German mathematician Emmy Noether. Yet, she was crucial in resolving a paradox in general relativity through her theorem connecting symmetry and energy-conservation laws… In [Einstein’s Tutor], physicist Lee Phillips brings Noether alive.”–Nature
“The story is full of lessons for the international science community today.”–Times Literary Supplement
“Phillips’ writing shines in his exhaustively researched historical narrative…Accessible to both nonscientists and trained physicists…ultimately, everyone will learn something new from this book.” –Science Magazine
”[Phillips] captures the invigorating atmosphere of mathematics surrounding Noether in her time.“–Wall Street Journal
”[A] persuasive study…this gives an overlooked innovator her due.”
–Publishers Weekly
“Emmy Noether has been recognized by many researchers as one of the most creative and important figures in the history of mathematics. Yet, as the New York Times once wrote, few can match Noether ‘in the depths of her perverse and unmerited obscurity.’ In this valuable book, Philips takes it upon himself to counter this chronic neglect. He successfully weaves Noether’s fascinating life story with her mathematics, along the way explaining how her celebrated theorem is nothing short of a backbone of modern physics.”
–Mario Livio, astrophysicist, author of Is Earth Exceptional?
“In the first full-length biography of yet another hidden figure of science, Einstein’s Tutor paints a moving portrait of the German-Jewish mathematician Emmy Noether, a woman of ‘infinite generosity [and] unstoppable optimism’–a woman who was also, as Phillips makes the case, one of the three most ingenious minds in the history of science, fully the equal of Albert Einstein and the brilliant mathematician David Hilbert. Phillips recounts the fascinating story of how Noether resolved a conundrum that Einstein created in his general theory of relativity–one that the great man himself could not unravel. Her work, known as Noether’s theorem, allowed modern science to rethink the entire framework of theoretical physics and build the modern standard model of the universe. It’s a tender story and a vital key to the yet-unfinished story of women taking their rightful places in the world of science.”
–Sharon Bertsch McGrayne, author of Nobel Prize Women in Science

Lee Phillips received his PhD in theoretical physics from Dartmouth College and completed his post-doctoral work. He worked for several decades as a research physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory. Inspired by Frank McCourt, he embarked on his current career as freelance writer, publishing widely in popular scientific journals.

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