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Einstein's Tutor: The Story of Emmy Noether and the Invention of Modern Physics
The story of Emmy Noether, an intellectual giant who helped Einstein complete his General Theory of Relativity and made foundational contributions to science and mathematics. Emmy Noether is one of the most important figures in the history of science and mathematics.. Noether’s mathematical genius enabled Einstein to bring his General Theory of Relativity, the basis of our current theory of gravity, to fruition. On a larger scale, what came to be known as “Noether’s Theorem” – called by a Nobel laureate “the single most profound result in all of physics” – supplied the basis for the most accurate theory in the history of physics, the Standard Model, which forms our modern theory of matter. Noether’s Theorem is also the tool physicists use to guide them towards the holy grail of a unified theory and is the secret weapon wielded by researchers at the cutting edge of fields as diverse as robotics, quantum computing, economics, and biology. Noether’s life story is equally important and revelatory in understanding the pernicious nature of sexual prejudice in the sciences, revealing the shocking discrimination against one of the true intellectual giants of the twentieth century, a woman effectively excluded from the institutions, perquisites, and fame given male counterparts in the world of science. Noether’s personality and optimistic, generous spirit, as Lee Phillips reveals, enabled her unique genius to persevere and arrive at insights that still astonish those who encounter them a century later.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published September 10, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
July 28, 2024
Have you ever been on a date where you know early that you don't jibe with the other person? Sure, they could be perfectly pleasant, but this is not love at first sight. So, you don't want to be rude, and continue with the date to see if maybe everything will improve and instead you just confirm your first inclination. Unfortunately, Einstein's Tutor by Lee Phillips was one of those dates in book form.
Einstein's Tutor tells the story of Emmy Noether, who was a mathematical genius before most men realized that such a thing could be true. Emmy created a theorem which revolutionized our understanding of physics. We don't know Noether's name today and it is a profound tragedy. I did outside research and her genius is not exaggerated. She was the real deal who had a fascinating and sometimes sad life.
The reason I had to do outside research is because Phillips' book did not provide an enjoyable account of either her life or the strides she made scientifically. I don't know how else to say it but to be blunt. I did not like Phillips' writing. It read like a college lecture with numerous diatribes away from Noether. He constantly throughout the book will say things like, "In this chapter, I will explain," or "As I already talked about in chapter 4." As I said, it feels like a lecture where you aren't trusted to read and soak up the facts and characters yourself. Phillips will also make bizarre and misplaced comments which have no business in the narrative. Specifically, he makes a comment about how 100 years ago and today that American college students are not as prepared for higher education as German students. I have no idea if this is true, but it didn't need to be said and there is no backup to this assertion in the text in any meaningful way. It is not the only time grand pronouncement left unsupported and it is profoundly distracting.
This is all a shame as Phillips is trying to shine the spotlight on a woman who rightfully deserves it. In the beginning of the book, Phillips even states he is not a historian and will not be writing a linear biography. I think this was a mistake. I think if he had an experienced hand at this type of story to pair with his passion for Noether and her work, then this could have been a must read.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and PublicAffairs.)
Einstein's Tutor tells the story of Emmy Noether, who was a mathematical genius before most men realized that such a thing could be true. Emmy created a theorem which revolutionized our understanding of physics. We don't know Noether's name today and it is a profound tragedy. I did outside research and her genius is not exaggerated. She was the real deal who had a fascinating and sometimes sad life.
The reason I had to do outside research is because Phillips' book did not provide an enjoyable account of either her life or the strides she made scientifically. I don't know how else to say it but to be blunt. I did not like Phillips' writing. It read like a college lecture with numerous diatribes away from Noether. He constantly throughout the book will say things like, "In this chapter, I will explain," or "As I already talked about in chapter 4." As I said, it feels like a lecture where you aren't trusted to read and soak up the facts and characters yourself. Phillips will also make bizarre and misplaced comments which have no business in the narrative. Specifically, he makes a comment about how 100 years ago and today that American college students are not as prepared for higher education as German students. I have no idea if this is true, but it didn't need to be said and there is no backup to this assertion in the text in any meaningful way. It is not the only time grand pronouncement left unsupported and it is profoundly distracting.
This is all a shame as Phillips is trying to shine the spotlight on a woman who rightfully deserves it. In the beginning of the book, Phillips even states he is not a historian and will not be writing a linear biography. I think this was a mistake. I think if he had an experienced hand at this type of story to pair with his passion for Noether and her work, then this could have been a must read.
(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and PublicAffairs.)
October 19, 2025
In a sad, either intentional or accidental, but nonetheless ironic way, the book speaks little about Noether and much more about the men around her, expounding on physical theories for the layperson to bulk out the book. This is made slightly sharper when you realise (and I'm pretty sure this is correct) her real first name is never mentioned. Maybe it's because there is genuinely so little known about her, but one can then help but feel the book should be half the size if it's a story about *her*.
But Hilbert sounds like a cool guy.
But Hilbert sounds like a cool guy.
July 9, 2025
AMAZING book. What a story and it made me want to go back and study math again. And Einstein "omitted Noether's name from any papers on general relativity despite expressing gratitude for her tutelage in his correspondence". so petty.
"Her life is the perfect example of the potential loss that can be suffered by a civilization that withholds opportunities to flourish from segments of its population. Without Noether's work, our science would most likely not have progressed as far as it has."
"Only those with a certain degree of means could prepare themselves to pass the examination that would allow them to partake of this meritocracy."
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
"How easy this decision would be for us if this were a man."
"Noether had the freedom to pursue research because of her small inheritance, extreme frugality, and lack of interest in marriage or much else outside of mathematics."
"mathematics should be enjoyed for its own sake, without any thought of application"
"Her life is the perfect example of the potential loss that can be suffered by a civilization that withholds opportunities to flourish from segments of its population. Without Noether's work, our science would most likely not have progressed as far as it has."
"Only those with a certain degree of means could prepare themselves to pass the examination that would allow them to partake of this meritocracy."
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
"How easy this decision would be for us if this were a man."
"Noether had the freedom to pursue research because of her small inheritance, extreme frugality, and lack of interest in marriage or much else outside of mathematics."
"mathematics should be enjoyed for its own sake, without any thought of application"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 18, 2025
I was rather excited to read this biography of Noether when I happened upon it at the bookstore, but this is sadly a rather strange book. The author writes in the way of an amateur journalist, dedicating news article-style paragraphs to quotes from “experts in the field” types. This is not just unappealing writing but a clear indication that the author has not allowed his various readings of the subject to culminate into a coherent narrative.
Many times in the book, Phillips tries to encourage the reader to step into the shoes of people from the past and see moral decisions from the perspective of their times. I personally have never found such overtures convincing or compelling; they always strike me as the author’s attempt to absolve themselves of their cowardice in the face of the moral dilemmas of their own time. Purely from the perspective of biography, making this kind of overture is just unnecessary. I see no reason for the author to insert his vapid amoral position on “the fragile and transient nature of ethical fashions,” in a paragraph where he uses the words “utilitarian” and “deontological” in the manner of somebody who read the first few pages of a philosophy textbook and stopped there. In this same paragraph, he remarks, “Indeed, the recent strengthening of a cluster of regressive attitudes sometimes called identity politics places traditional liberal values in palpable danger.” Leaving to the side the gross obfuscation of the meaning of identity politics, what does this have anything to do with the supposed subject of this book? This is one of a number of instances in the book where the author injects reactionary points of view that don’t belong in what should be a contemplative biography of a scientific figure.
The most unsubstantiated scientific claim of the book seems to me to be that the Standard Model and modern particle physics would not exist without Noether’s Theorem. It is certainly true that instances of Noether’s theorem, where symmetries of the Lagrangian imply conservation laws, are central to the Standard Model. However, the author was not able to establish that without Noether, such conservation laws would go undiscovered. That’s what he would have had to show in order to claim, “Without this theorem—this theory construction tool kit—much of modern physics would not exist or would be in relative disarray.”
This book had the potential to be very profound and enriching, but I think it fell short of its goals. I don’t think this biography did justice to Noether’s extraordinary genius.
Many times in the book, Phillips tries to encourage the reader to step into the shoes of people from the past and see moral decisions from the perspective of their times. I personally have never found such overtures convincing or compelling; they always strike me as the author’s attempt to absolve themselves of their cowardice in the face of the moral dilemmas of their own time. Purely from the perspective of biography, making this kind of overture is just unnecessary. I see no reason for the author to insert his vapid amoral position on “the fragile and transient nature of ethical fashions,” in a paragraph where he uses the words “utilitarian” and “deontological” in the manner of somebody who read the first few pages of a philosophy textbook and stopped there. In this same paragraph, he remarks, “Indeed, the recent strengthening of a cluster of regressive attitudes sometimes called identity politics places traditional liberal values in palpable danger.” Leaving to the side the gross obfuscation of the meaning of identity politics, what does this have anything to do with the supposed subject of this book? This is one of a number of instances in the book where the author injects reactionary points of view that don’t belong in what should be a contemplative biography of a scientific figure.
The most unsubstantiated scientific claim of the book seems to me to be that the Standard Model and modern particle physics would not exist without Noether’s Theorem. It is certainly true that instances of Noether’s theorem, where symmetries of the Lagrangian imply conservation laws, are central to the Standard Model. However, the author was not able to establish that without Noether, such conservation laws would go undiscovered. That’s what he would have had to show in order to claim, “Without this theorem—this theory construction tool kit—much of modern physics would not exist or would be in relative disarray.”
This book had the potential to be very profound and enriching, but I think it fell short of its goals. I don’t think this biography did justice to Noether’s extraordinary genius.
September 24, 2024
Emmy Noether was an extraordinary person. Not just because she was a woman in academia despite every possible roadblock being put in her way. Not just because she was an amazing mathematician who revolutionized algebra. Not just because she was a Jewish woman forced into exile by the Nazis, dying far too young in a land far from her own. But, at least in my opinion after reading Einstein's Tutor, perhaps the most extraordinary thing about her was that she was all these things while also being generous, funny, good-humored, egoless, and even occasionally foul-mouthed. It's easy to see why she attracted a school of students everywhere she went, even when she wasn't allowed to be an official teacher or even be paid by the university. Mathematics and the teaching of it seem to have been the greatest, almost the only, joys of her life, so much so that, while a statement like that would usually be said with a note of pity or sadness, in this case it can only be said in awe and admiration.
If there is one caveat to my five-star review it is this: Einstein's Tutor is not a "biography" of Noether as such. It is biograph ical , but much more concerned with highlighting her work and demonstrating how central and important it was to the development of modern physics. And, Phillips fairly convincingly shows, her most famous work -- known as Noether's theorems -- is at the forefront and foundation of both relativity and the edifice of particle physics known as the Standard Model, and thus of physics as we know it. (I won't even attempt a potted explanation, but it's fundamentally about how symmetries underlie the laws of physics.)
Due to sexism, her disinterest in things like taking credit, the fact that as a pure mathematician she honestly did not care about the physics work once she had finished with it, Noether has only recently begun to get the recognition she deserves. Lee Phillips seeks to move that program forward with Einstein's Tutor, and succeeds admirably. It's heady stuff, but he makes it understandable without recourse to much technical detail (more of which he provides in the appendices). Along the way, he paints a vivid portrait of late 19th- and early 20th- century German academia, a cauldron of both genius and bigotry, and a constellation of geniuses who influenced, collaborated with, and championed Emmy Noether, such as Hilbert, Klein, and the titular Einstein (she helped him with the math for general relativity, thus the "tutor" part).
I admit, I knew something about Emmy Noether and her work before, as a consumer of popular science. But Einstein's Tutor has only deepened my admiration and appreciation of her greatness, as a mathematician, but, even more so, as a human being. I hope others will do the same.
If there is one caveat to my five-star review it is this: Einstein's Tutor is not a "biography" of Noether as such. It is biograph ical , but much more concerned with highlighting her work and demonstrating how central and important it was to the development of modern physics. And, Phillips fairly convincingly shows, her most famous work -- known as Noether's theorems -- is at the forefront and foundation of both relativity and the edifice of particle physics known as the Standard Model, and thus of physics as we know it. (I won't even attempt a potted explanation, but it's fundamentally about how symmetries underlie the laws of physics.)
Due to sexism, her disinterest in things like taking credit, the fact that as a pure mathematician she honestly did not care about the physics work once she had finished with it, Noether has only recently begun to get the recognition she deserves. Lee Phillips seeks to move that program forward with Einstein's Tutor, and succeeds admirably. It's heady stuff, but he makes it understandable without recourse to much technical detail (more of which he provides in the appendices). Along the way, he paints a vivid portrait of late 19th- and early 20th- century German academia, a cauldron of both genius and bigotry, and a constellation of geniuses who influenced, collaborated with, and championed Emmy Noether, such as Hilbert, Klein, and the titular Einstein (she helped him with the math for general relativity, thus the "tutor" part).
I admit, I knew something about Emmy Noether and her work before, as a consumer of popular science. But Einstein's Tutor has only deepened my admiration and appreciation of her greatness, as a mathematician, but, even more so, as a human being. I hope others will do the same.
June 4, 2025
I was incredibly excited when I happened to see this book on the new non-fiction shelf at my library. I've been wanting to learn more about Emmy Noether ever since first encountering her in an abstract algebra course in undergrad, and I couldn't believe that someone had written a whole biography aimed at a popular audience on someone I thought was a fairly obscure mathematician.
Phillips makes an incredibly compelling case that Noether should be viewed as one of the greatest mathematicians of her era and as the person who accidentally, as a side project that didn't mean very much to her, launched the tools and framework needed for all of modern physics. I had no idea that Noether had any involvement in physics, let alone that she played a key role in the development of general relativity and quantum mechanics! In fact, she had always been presented to me primarily as "a woman in mathematics," a role model to show that there were female mathematicians in earlier generations. I knew that she had done important work in abstract algebra, but had no idea how central she was in developing the methods and approaches of modern abstract algebra.
However, the style of the book wasn't to my taste. Phillips admits up front that he is not a biographer or historian, and unfortunately it shows. Rather than synthesizing his sources into a comprehensive argument and citing his sources in footnotes, he constantly quotes individual "experts" on their opinions of Emmy Noether. He often writes awkwardly in the first person ("In this chapter I will tell you...") and often repeats himself, sometimes in the same paragraph. His sources are mostly secondary articles about Noether, not any original archival research. Although I enjoyed the book for what it was, I wish a historian or biographer would write a better researched book about her or that a mathematician would write something focused on her work in algebra. Still, if you're interested in the history of math or science, definitely check this out!
Phillips makes an incredibly compelling case that Noether should be viewed as one of the greatest mathematicians of her era and as the person who accidentally, as a side project that didn't mean very much to her, launched the tools and framework needed for all of modern physics. I had no idea that Noether had any involvement in physics, let alone that she played a key role in the development of general relativity and quantum mechanics! In fact, she had always been presented to me primarily as "a woman in mathematics," a role model to show that there were female mathematicians in earlier generations. I knew that she had done important work in abstract algebra, but had no idea how central she was in developing the methods and approaches of modern abstract algebra.
However, the style of the book wasn't to my taste. Phillips admits up front that he is not a biographer or historian, and unfortunately it shows. Rather than synthesizing his sources into a comprehensive argument and citing his sources in footnotes, he constantly quotes individual "experts" on their opinions of Emmy Noether. He often writes awkwardly in the first person ("In this chapter I will tell you...") and often repeats himself, sometimes in the same paragraph. His sources are mostly secondary articles about Noether, not any original archival research. Although I enjoyed the book for what it was, I wish a historian or biographer would write a better researched book about her or that a mathematician would write something focused on her work in algebra. Still, if you're interested in the history of math or science, definitely check this out!
November 18, 2024
Had to give 5 stars to encourage any fan of science history to read this important book. I've always wanted to learn about Emmy Noether and her famous theorem as I've heard physicists regularly claim it is one of the most important equations in all of physics. When I saw this newly published book in the bookstore, it was an easy decision.
The book is both a biography and an explanation of her celebrated theorem. The author (who is a theoretical physicist) explains how her theorem laid the entire foundation of modern physics, both relativity and quantum mechanics (among other areas). This book does a great job convincing the reader that the name "Noether" belongs up there with Einstein and Newton due to how much she's revolutionized our understanding of the universe.
And as if that wasn't enough, she essentially founded the field of abstract algebra with her very original and abstract approach to mathematics. An absolutely brilliant mind. Nothing short of genius.
The book is both a biography and an explanation of her celebrated theorem. The author (who is a theoretical physicist) explains how her theorem laid the entire foundation of modern physics, both relativity and quantum mechanics (among other areas). This book does a great job convincing the reader that the name "Noether" belongs up there with Einstein and Newton due to how much she's revolutionized our understanding of the universe.
And as if that wasn't enough, she essentially founded the field of abstract algebra with her very original and abstract approach to mathematics. An absolutely brilliant mind. Nothing short of genius.
June 22, 2024
I enjoyed this book. I liked the conversational tone and the plain language explanations. Lee Phillips covers the important information while keeping the technical information to a minimum. Some of the material is complex but translating from Math to English can be incredibly difficult, as I’ve seen after having read a lot of these types of books. There was a lot of biographical information which I really enjoyed and I thought that the chapter on the legacy was brilliant. And it was worth at least skimming the Appendix as I found some fairly good nuggets. Overall this book is well worth reading, both as a biography of Emmy Noether’s Theorems, and a biography of the vastly under-appreciated Emmy Noether. Thank you to Netgalley and PublicAffairs for the advance reader copy.
January 7, 2025
Loved it but it wasn’t what I expected. I thought this would be a biography but it wasn’t an intellectual history of Noether’s Theorem (plus other awesome math like modern algebra and variational calculus) entwined with a biography.
No equations but the more physics (and math) background you have, the more you will enjoy this.
Emmy was an amazing mathematician, teacher, and person. So selfless and suffering as a female Jew in pre-WW2 Germany (who escaped to Bryn Mawr). She is the foundation of all modern physics.
The author was great with just a little snark and opinion thrown in (a nice subtle slam of Wolfram in there).
Reading this shortly after reading about Penrose - Emmy was the opposite and so much better! As a person and a mathematician.
No equations but the more physics (and math) background you have, the more you will enjoy this.
Emmy was an amazing mathematician, teacher, and person. So selfless and suffering as a female Jew in pre-WW2 Germany (who escaped to Bryn Mawr). She is the foundation of all modern physics.
The author was great with just a little snark and opinion thrown in (a nice subtle slam of Wolfram in there).
Reading this shortly after reading about Penrose - Emmy was the opposite and so much better! As a person and a mathematician.
June 16, 2025
One of the best math/science histories I've read in some time. I liked the manner in which the author explained why he took a certain route through events and concepts.
My biggest problem with this book would be how the author avoids printing any Math at all so we never even get to see what Noether's theorem would look like to a mathematician, not even in the appendix. There are however, plenty of mathematical concepts that can stretch your imagination.
Overall a wonderful, if somewhat sad read.
My biggest problem with this book would be how the author avoids printing any Math at all so we never even get to see what Noether's theorem would look like to a mathematician, not even in the appendix. There are however, plenty of mathematical concepts that can stretch your imagination.
Overall a wonderful, if somewhat sad read.
December 25, 2024
This book says a lot about Lee Phillips but very little about the subject. The heavy use of adjectives is no compensation for lack of content. This implies even in the "technical" appendix.
April 3, 2025
A poor book with a meretricious title. I had imagined that this was going to be a substantial biography of Noether but the author disclaims that ambition in his introduction. Then pleads that he is no historian or biographer. He just wants to tell the world about the importance of Noether's work. Well, "tell" he does but he shows us little.
The book seems to be predicated on the belief that Noether's work has, somehow, been unfairly neglected or even supressed. That strikes me as an insupportable allegation, and certainly one not evidenced by the book. Sadly, he makes no effort to show his readers what her work was, assuring them that "it's much too complicated". Her famous theorem is, of course, a technical, though profound, result in physics at the most abstract level. It's not exactly undergraduate material. It's surprising so many people have heard of it at all. I fear that, but for the theorem, important as it is, little of her other work was remarkable, except perhaps in some technical areas of mathematics.
The salience of her theorem has largely been the slave of changing fashions in physics and how we talk about it. But we get nothing of that
Of course, part of the context here is Noether's persecution at the hands of the Nazis, and colleagues for whom all this was convenient for their careers. There is a complete failure here to give a proper background account of persecution of Jewish academics, and in particular mathematicians, under the Nazi regime. A proper description and analysis of all this, and in fact Noether's own experience, can be found in Sanford Segal's excellent Mathematicians under the Nazis. As far as I can see, that book isn't even in the author's end notes. I'm sorry if I missed it when I tried to find it. Unhelpfully there is no bibliography to check easily.
On that last note, on of the most fascinating parts of Segal's book is his account of Oswald Teichmüller. Teichmüller was an academic mathematician, working in exactly the sort of abstract mathematics Nazis condemned as "Jewish" and sought to repress, but himself an ardent Nazi. Nothing of him mentioned in Phillips' book. Phillips tells of Noether's clandestine tutorials in abstract algebra given in her own home. He tells that one day, a Nazi in full regalia turned up at the door, only to prove to be an enthusiastic and ardent student. Teichmüller? It would have been too good a story but surely worth a little research. Or was there more than one Nazi mathematical savant? I think we should be told.
The book lacks narrative drive. There is too much padding and endless laments about Noether's supposed neglect. An opportunity missed here. Phillips' subject has been badly served. It has encouraged me to go away and read Emmy Noether's Wonderful Theorem, now shelved.
What saved the book from a single star was the brief note that Carl Runge did some work on general relativity. Nevertheless, Phillips can't resist telling us that we'll probably be surprised by that if we only know his name from numerical methods.
The book seems to be predicated on the belief that Noether's work has, somehow, been unfairly neglected or even supressed. That strikes me as an insupportable allegation, and certainly one not evidenced by the book. Sadly, he makes no effort to show his readers what her work was, assuring them that "it's much too complicated". Her famous theorem is, of course, a technical, though profound, result in physics at the most abstract level. It's not exactly undergraduate material. It's surprising so many people have heard of it at all. I fear that, but for the theorem, important as it is, little of her other work was remarkable, except perhaps in some technical areas of mathematics.
The salience of her theorem has largely been the slave of changing fashions in physics and how we talk about it. But we get nothing of that
Of course, part of the context here is Noether's persecution at the hands of the Nazis, and colleagues for whom all this was convenient for their careers. There is a complete failure here to give a proper background account of persecution of Jewish academics, and in particular mathematicians, under the Nazi regime. A proper description and analysis of all this, and in fact Noether's own experience, can be found in Sanford Segal's excellent Mathematicians under the Nazis. As far as I can see, that book isn't even in the author's end notes. I'm sorry if I missed it when I tried to find it. Unhelpfully there is no bibliography to check easily.
On that last note, on of the most fascinating parts of Segal's book is his account of Oswald Teichmüller. Teichmüller was an academic mathematician, working in exactly the sort of abstract mathematics Nazis condemned as "Jewish" and sought to repress, but himself an ardent Nazi. Nothing of him mentioned in Phillips' book. Phillips tells of Noether's clandestine tutorials in abstract algebra given in her own home. He tells that one day, a Nazi in full regalia turned up at the door, only to prove to be an enthusiastic and ardent student. Teichmüller? It would have been too good a story but surely worth a little research. Or was there more than one Nazi mathematical savant? I think we should be told.
The book lacks narrative drive. There is too much padding and endless laments about Noether's supposed neglect. An opportunity missed here. Phillips' subject has been badly served. It has encouraged me to go away and read Emmy Noether's Wonderful Theorem, now shelved.
What saved the book from a single star was the brief note that Carl Runge did some work on general relativity. Nevertheless, Phillips can't resist telling us that we'll probably be surprised by that if we only know his name from numerical methods.
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