Colorized portrait of Marie-Sophie Germain (April 1, 1776 - June 27, 1831) was a French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher. Despite initial opposition from her parents she educated herself from books in her father's library and from correspondence with famous mathematicians such as Lagrange, Legendre, and Gauss. One of the pioneers of elasticity theory, she won the grand prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences for her essay on the subject. Her work on Fermat's Last Theorem provided a foundation for mathematicians exploring the subject for hundreds of years after. In 1829 Germain learned she had breast cancer. She died in 1831 at the age of 55.