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A Refugee Scholar: Noether and Bryn Mawr

Overview.

In April of 1933, after Hitler came to power, non-Aryan Germans were removed from university positions, and in response, the Institute of International Education moved to provide aid to the academics who'd lost their positions in Germany, however some American colleges were still notably anti-semitic, and weren't amenable to housing Jewish academics.

One of the colleges that accepted these academics, was Bryn Mawr, the most notable of which was Emmy Noether.

The Mission.

The Great Depression helped enable the turn towards fascism in Germany, which led to the exodus of Jewish academics, but it also put financial strain on American universities.

The Emergency Committee matched her with a university that was willing to house her, and funded her salary via the Rockefeller Foundation, offering $2000, annually, which was later decreased to $1000.

This is particularly interesting because the Rockefeller foundation also funded eugenics programs in Nazi Germany, including the one Mengele, known as the "Angel of Death" took part in before he went to Auschwitz.

Germany to the United States.

Noether was 53 when she was forced into exile from Germany, after having been the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in Mathematics in Germany, and her work impressed Hilbert and Klein, so much so that they invited her to join the faculty at Göttingen.

Despite the discrimination against women which was common for the time, she gained a reputation as a leading researcher in modern algebra, and developed a collaborative rapport with Weyl.

Noether was one of the first dismissed academics, along with Courant, and Max Born, who coined the term 'Quantum Mechanics'.

Many of her peers, including Weyl, advocated her, to no avail, with the letter announcing her exile stating that her sympathy for Marxist worldviews was so strong she could not be regarded as a wholehearted supporter of the German state.

> I suppose there could hardly have been in any other case such a pile of enthusiastic testimonials filed with the Ministerium as was sent in on her behalf. At that time we really fought; there was still hope left that the worst could be warded off. It was in vain. - Hermann Weyl

Weyl, who assumed Courant's previous position, quickly reached out to Princeton to arrange a visiting lectureship for her, though the negotiations fell through, with Noether sayin that Princeton was a "mens university, which admits nothing female".

This set the state for her to end up at Bryn Mawr, which was not too far from Princeton.

Part of the reason this worked out was that while she was seriously considering taking work in Moscow, the person who had to give the final okay delayed giving and answer, so Noether was forced to accept the Bryn Mawr offer partially due to financial pressure.

This may have been the best course of events, however, as her brother, who ended up relocating in the U.S.S.R, was murdered by the Soviet secret police on suspicion of being a German spy, after Hitler ended an agreement he had with Stalin.

Noether also had other options, from places like Oxford, and was seeking to postpone the Bryn Mawr option for a year, but Oxford was unable to guarantee satisfactory wages, leading to Noether accepting the Bryn Mawr offer exactly one day before the next semester began.

An author of one of the biographies of Noether, noted that she probably wouldn't have chosen an undergraduate college, and perhaps felt obligated to accept the Oxford offer, having agreed to lecture there, but likely realized the financial stability offered by Bryn was greater, and came with the possibility of renewal.

Noether at Mawr.

Noether's imminent arrival was announced in a convocation address, on October 3rd, referring to her as "the most eminent woman in Mathematics in Europe", and also notes that her expected stay is two years, which means in the extension must have been secured in the time between the writing of the draft of the convocation, and its delivery.

Noether was to be met by a reporter, whom she asked Park, the president of the institution, to inform that she didn't intend to answer questions about Germany, fearing the backlash that would befall her family and friends who were still there, as well as wanting to not jeopardize her ability to return there.

In the summer of '34, she gave a lecture at the University of Hamburg, but realized that she wouldn't be able to remain there, being shunned by her colleagues for fear of retribution for associating with her, and proceeded to ship her belongings from the apartment she'd kept up to that point, thinking she'd be able to return at some point.

She was told by her nephew, that he was not allowed to speak in class, and was taunted by classmates regarding his facial features, and that the teachers went so far as to even side with the other students.

A Refugee Scholar: Noether and Bryn Mawr