The most significant genius: Emmy Noether 

Thank you very much for making this video about my great aunt. My dad's grandfather and Emmy's father were brothers. I don't fully comprehend these contributions since I spent most of my life studying history, politics and literature of China, but on behalf of my family I wish to thank you for your efforts to disseminate this knowledge.

If you didn't think Fermilab was gonna cover this fascinating backstory, you have a whole Noether thing coming.

This only covers her contribution to mathematical physics. Her contributions to pure mathematics were also stupendous.

Dr. Don Lincoln is absolutely my favorite physicist in RU-vid because not only is he highly knowledgeable in physics, he also has this magic skill about conveying even complex matters in somewhat easy - or at least way easier compared to physicists on average - manner. Many many things still gives big headaches to me even after watching Don's videos, but I usually end up understanding the topic at least a bit better. Also, he is a very humble person, so he does not make the presentation about him (which some physicists in RU-vid unfortunately do), about how good he himself is when he understands difficult things. He tries his best to make less savvy people understand the complex matters and he puts a lot of effort in trying to achieve that, that's his only concern, nothing else. Keep up the good work and keep doing these insanely good videos.

My 6 year old daughter loved this video. She insisted I subscribe. Thank you for making physics so accessible and talking about the contributions of women scientists and mathematicians.

PBS SpaceTime just did some episodes on her. They were the foundation of the current series they are doing on symmetry and the standard model. Great videos.

Just think how much more advanced human civilization would have been today if women's skills and talents have not been suppressed for centuries! Thank you, Don, for doing her justice.

Thanks! There are so many women who have done amazing work in math and/or science! It's high time they were recognized. I began compiling a list, & I've found so many from all areas of the world, & throughout time. So many of them were discriminated against, shunned, ignored, or even worse. Let's give them their due - now and always. Thanks again. Rikki Tikki.

Thanks for the awesome History lesson. I feel that many women have been overlooked for many things, maybe this will help people's awareness of just how important women's contributions are to society, science and the world. My hat off to you, sir...

Thank you so much for this great video. I learned about Emmy Noether in our Linear Algebra class. Before that I had never heard of her. What a truly amazing mind she had, what a contribution she made!

Dear Dr Don! I love you for creating this video. When hearing about her theorem in sophomore physics class in 1980, knowing the importance of conservation laws, and how easy they made kinematics computations, I could not understand why she wasn’t revered like Newton, Maxwell, and Einstein, at the top echelon of the Physics community. Why she wasn’t given the Nobel prize during her lifetime. I later read about her life, that we shouldn’t call tragic, because she got her prize. Her meta-law. And you, Sir, with the platform you created, you honored her like she should be honored. You get it! Dead center! Thank you Dr. Don. You’re my hero!

When I was in grad school, literally not a day went by where Noether's Theorem wasn't invoked. Not one problem could be addressed, not one conversation had, not one idea bandied, nothing at all could take place without Noether's Theorem. And best of all, not only does her theorem equate symmetries with conserved quantities in an abstract sense, but she also provided a way to simply turn a mathematical crank and describe exactly what quantity is conserved. Her theorem isn't just an abstraction. It provides a way to generate the conserved quantity itself from a mathematical mechanism. Have you found a symmetry? Turn this crank she created, and the conserved quantity will fall out into your lap. She's the single most important figure in high energy and particle physics, bar none.

In the Feynman lectures he touches on this, you go into some more detail! Thank you for the leads on this wonderful subject

You made this so much more understandable by linking her theorem to the ongoing developments in Physics. :) Another great video, Dr Lincoln. Totally worth the wait!

Emmy Noether: a beautiful and deep mind! One of a kind, one of the GREATEST! Thank you for your beautiful theorems Emmy.

It’s great that Noether is getting more recognized now. While we’re on the topic of the intersection of math and physics, another unsung hero so to speak is Hermann Weyl. Would you also kindly consider doing a similar segment on him? Cheers!

I am using some of your videos for learning more about Physics, and today this video help me with an important issue in my research. Thank you very much for your videos!

Great story. Great person. Great people. Great stories. Thanks.

Thank you so much for taking the time to make a video about her! Other physics/mathematics channels just gloss over her accomplishments if they mention her at all. It's so refreshing to see a channel that's willing to highlight the brilliant women in this field.

One of those gorgeous areas in physics where group theory finds application.

Many things bother me, but the fact that I, a physician, had not heard of Emmy Noether until I was in my 50’s ranks high. I was sitting in traffic the other day, barely moving, when I realized that my traffic jam was also explained by Noether’s theorem. Amazing.

Excelent video. Thank you sir

Thank you for the explanation of the symmetry and conservation laws.

Mr. Lincoln, I only recently discovered your videos, and I love it!! Thanks!!🤓

When I took my theoretical computer science classes, her name also came up quite a bit. I don't remember much about it but I do remember that we made extensive use of Noetherian induction for proving theorems. If its prerequisites are met, it can be an extremely elegant technique.

This is one of my favorite science youtube videos I've ever watched! Emmy Noether was a bad ass!

Another brilliant and informative video from Dr. Lincoln of Fermilab. Standing on the shoulders of this giant woman, I see the symmetries in the many barred galaxies and I wonder about their conservations and rules. Thanks for a great lesson!

Brilliant, conservation derives from symmetry...

That was a great and easy to understand. Thanks Fermilab 😊

Noether's theorem is one way in which Eugene Wigner's statement conjecture about the Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Physical Sciences is validated.

Dr Don I am amazed by your explanations so clear yet through

+Fermilab Thank you for the video, I hoped that you might explain why the various symmetries imply the specific conservation laws that they do, for example why translation symmetry implies the conservation of momentum _in particular,_ and so on. Cheers.

I would love a video where you go more indepth into how (why?) symmetries cause conservation laws. I know PBS spacetime did a video on it recently, but I'd love your take on it too. This is a fascinating topic!

Emmy, we love you!

¿Could you do a video focused on the mathematics of symmetries and conservation laws, and how to derive one from the other? Thank you! You’re awesome professor! 👏🏻

In mathematical parlance, regarding the symmetry you speak of, if for function f: f(-x) = f(x) f is called an "even function" ,conversely if f(-x) = -f(x) f is called an "odd function".

I taught science for more than thirty years. Today I learned!

You did a perfect job on this. Thank you so much for you good work.

Great teaching style....this professor is brilliant and also a very nice approachable person. I can tell.

Wow! From Wikipedia - She was described by Pavel Alexandrov, Albert Einstein, Jean Dieudonné, Hermann Weyl and Norbert Wiener as the most important woman in the history of mathematics. As one of the leading mathematicians of her time, *she developed the theories of rings, fields, and algebras.* In physics, Noether's theorem explains the connection between symmetry and conservation laws. Looks like it is not enough to call her "most important woman" - she is one of the most important mathematicians! Thank you, Farmilab for bringing it to me.

THANK YOU PROFESSOR LINCOLN...!!!

Best simple explanation of noethers theorem

The time symmetry is not about shifting when you choose zero time but about when you start your experiment (all other things being the same). The concept is about laws of nature not changing with time and this is what implies the conservation law (energy, in this case). In any case, great video and I'm glad someone is highlighting Emmy Noether's crucial contribution to math and science.

at around 7:00: "conservation laws come from symmetries". so my question is about the causality of this. which comes first? can we say that symmetries cause the existence of conservation laws or the other way around? as I see it at the moment: we cannot say either. Noether's derivation was purely mathematical and the theorem is like an "if, and only if"-theorem. The existence of a continuous symmetry is the necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a conservation law and of course it's also true the other way. I also think btw, that the theorem itself is brilliant and beautiful.

Thank you for this excellent presentation. Was reminded that we need to fight for fairness in this World and also learned something about symmetry I didn't understand before

One of the better videos on the subject

Very nicely done! Given that the length of your video is only 10 minutes (in contrast to some much longer Noether videos on youtube that I've also watched), I wasn't sure what to expect. But, by excellent use of graphical devices, you've packed a lot in!

i also things noethers work was fentastic of 20th century. loved her theorem.

Like spanish inquisition, I didn’t expect this at all. Your videos come in discrete anecdotes.. Very interesting!

Dr. DON, thank you for introducing us to this great lady who was EMMY. It reminds me of those wonderful ladies who contributed to NASA's feats: Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson .But let's not forget our moms which were, in another register, excellent.:D

took me 4 years, but I'm glad I found it

I have had this opinion of Emmy Noether since I was in college decades ago, oerhaps if enough people learn about her, she'll finally be taught in physics course below the graduate level.

Finally new video by dr.don

When you think of all the incredibly talented women throughout history who have either been prevented from pursuing careers in science or discouraged and ignored in their attempts to do so, the magnitude of the loss of what they might have accomplished for humanity is staggering.

Doctor Don certified! PBS Spacetime Noether's theorem recapitulated: Landau-Lifshitz pseudo-tensor; principle of least action; and Fermat's theorem. It was a wild ride.

i want to learn all about Emmy Noether now. interesting and real stuff. thanks

Thank you very much for this episode. I'd never heard of her before.

Thanks Don for your presentations. They are always excellent and informative. I am currently reading Peter Rowlands book "How schrodinger's cat escaped the box " but I am stuck on quarternions. I understand rotation and non-commutivity a little. One of his professor friends says All you need to understand it is coloured counters. Then I became really confused. Can you help? Could you do a presentation. Please, pretty please.

A great woman. Great insight.

Fraulein Noether is mentioned in ‘This way to the Universe’ by Michael Dine.

One of his better ones. Thanks Emmy Noether.

Even though examples were given, two seconds should have been used to say she proved _two_ theorems, and that the symmetries in question must be _continuous_ - in fact, the examples given only cover her 1st theo; the only physical example I know of the 2nd is GR...

Just remember to thank the people that built the foundation of what you are standing on

Grateful for filling this hole in my knowledge

great video like always ...you are my physics hero on you tube😀🤠😎

Emmy Noether, against Nobel regulations, should be the first and final person to receive the Nobel Prize posthumously. Just because her contribution to physics can only be compared to Newton’s, Maxwell’s and Einstein’s.

Hello Prof. Lincoln, It seems to me that one of the consequences of undefined space and time in the Universe, may lead to the fact that the law of conservation of energy may be tied to an undefined symmetry and therefore, energy could well disappear into nothing, or appear from nothing... Thanks for the great video on Emmy Noether. It sound strange to me that even when Hilbert - the true unique great math genius - and Einstein gave their opinion, even then Ms. Noether wasn't properly recognised. People were truly hard of understanding. Thanks for the video!

Noether is a good example on how obvious is subjective. Not only on how her idea is obvious when you think about it, but how she herself couldn't see somethings one would think should have been pretty obvious to her, but as they say "hindsight is 20/20". Of course, she's far from the only case, but in her case the obvious she missed seems way easier to exemplify because of how fundamental it was. (another good one was the 5th postulate case)

Thank you for making this video!

Very well explained good video!

Great video sir. Keep them coming.

Dr Don can you pls make a video on sterile neutrino

Time symmetry might not exist as a result of Second law of Thermodynamics then Conservation of energy should not be hold. But this will conflict with First Law of Thermodynamics. Can anyone explain for me this paradox? Thank you.

another great video, don and friends

483902 hours... So Doctor Don's birthday is sometime between late April and early May? Happy belated birthday! :)

Does it makes sense to ground from the inverse statement? That there exists a mathematical symmetry for every observed conservation law?

Excellent talk. Another suppressed female genius, like Emilie du Chatelet and many more. Emmy Noether did all her work BC - before computers. Also before the internet, or should I say: because there was no internet, no smartphones ... and people had the time to really think. As feedback on the talk, pls permit me to say, that it has to be an isosceles or equilateral triangle (02:45). (This is of course sufficiently implied by the video). Thanks

Good work Noether

A sad story really. I hope she took heart from the support of such highly esteemed scientists as Einstein

Somewhat like Lise Meitner, though she did get the Fermi ward with Otto Hahn

The most beautiful theorem Noethers theorem

A highly useful piece of physical insight.

I am wondering if symmetries show something about the underlying structure of the universe such as the distribution of matter, charge, the Schrödinger equation of the universe, etc. I am not a theoretical physicist, so I may be just expelling hot air.

Wonderful reminisce and respect to a to a genius,.

Describing Emmy Noether as "pretty awesome" is a gross understatement. She is in the running for greatest STEM intellect of all-time.

Hmm but conservation of mass was kind of an accepted rule until special relativity. I wonder what symmetry would be required to make that possible.

Good subject but Could You also give for us what mathematical translation we should use in Euler-Lagrange equation to derive each conservation law, please? Ex. When L=1/2mv^2 - mgy and dL/dx = d/dt(dL/dx') We get.... 1) For x = x+∆x and L = const in this translation Then we have mv = constant 2) For t = t+∆t and L = constant in that translation We have E = constant And so on... Could You give for viewers which mathematical fraction should we use to get charge conservation law and conservations in special relativity?

Thank you for this!

So true! Emmy Noether didn't get the merit she deserved. Nothing could compensate that, but at least we could now give her the credit what she deserves.

Is this really true, the momnetum is conserved? A planet spinning in either a circular or eliptical orbit around its host star should radiate gravitational waves, this ought to tax the systems energy and mass since this energy that pulls the blanket of spacetime curvature will be emitted away from the star and it's planet? Such questions never arose when I was in school.

Not having anything like Emmy's gift for languages that is so applicable to the analysis of concepts and ideas.., one can observe that "connection" corresponds, is equivalent to, ultimate time duration timing functional Symmetry, in Principle. She made the principle a usable Mathematical statement. Ordinary people groping around in the darkness of a transparent but ubiquitous Principle need to know that symmetry is the tip of the iceberg, and not be distracted by clever compositions of information that are not tested as reliably as Noether's Theorm in practice, or recognized as the temporal superposition logic of quantization-> balancing act of constant/continuous creation connection that IS Mathematics. Mathematicians are the ultimate Artists who design practical methodologies everyone else relies on to de-re construct the physics of everything. (You can see why this is true with Emmy's techniques)

She is probably the most inspiring women.

Hi Don! Could you elaborate more on the supercharge in a future video?

Dayam. Enjoyed that.

what a great mind she was.

Thank-you, Don.

So all things being equal, she proved that!

Thanks, Doc, these videos are great!

Not all symmetries leads to conservation law, a translation symmetry will not always leads to conservation of momentum. Symmetry and Conservation are linked together by principle of least action, i.e. Lagrangian.

Please sir make video on atomic structure