Dificuldades e contribuições das mulheres cientistas ao longo da história da matemática

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyze the presence of women throughout the history of mathematics development since, since the beginning of human evolution, there are few women who are part of the mathematical scientific field and those who have been part of it throughout history have been excluded or erased because, for several years, mathematics was seen as an area specifically for men, and such erroneous reasoning was legitimized by the fantasy that they would have a natural tendency to calculus, causing women to abstain from this science. The trajectory of women throughout the history of mathematics is presented in an introverted way, because previously there was no place for them in this science. The absence of women was justified by researches done by scientists or psychologists who affirmed in their works that women were biologically inferior to men, thus corroborating the exclusion of women. This was part of a historically patriarchal society, founded on the ideology that women were considered inferior and that they did not have the capacity to occupy positions that were previously considered eminently masculine. Such a society forced women who ventured into the exact sciences to resort to clandestine means in order to be able to become a researcher, attend a university or publish their scientific discoveries. This is what, for example, Marie Curie did. She attended traveling universities that all the time changed their location to evade Russian surveillance. Another great mathematical scientist was Marie Sophie who used the pseudonym LeBlanc so that she could acquire lecture notes and publish her scientific discoveries. Hypatia of Alexandria, considered to be the first woman mathematician in history, suffered discrimination simply because she did not accept the religious ideas and the feminine role of that time. This article intends to highlight the history and the contributions of Hypatia of Alexandria, MarieSophie Germain and Marie Curie throughout the history of mathematics, investigating the challenges faced by women in mathematics, in order to mitigate the impact caused by female exclusion in the field of exact science, through bibliographic research and pointing out the challenges and contributions of women in mathematics, aiming to encourage them to enter the field of exact sciences.