The exhibition Women of Mathematics from Around the World focuses on female mathematicians from different countries and cultures and honours their significant contributions to mathematics. The exhibition will make a stop in Freiberg from 1 April 2026.
Being excellent at maths has nothing to do with gender or origin: This is demonstrated by the exhibition featuring personalities from the world of maths and their individual life and career paths. Photographs by Noel Tovia Matoff of the 34 female mathematicians are presented together with excerpts from interviews. The portraits of contemporary female scientists provide insights into their work, their lives and their motivation - and impressively show how diverse and lively mathematics is today.
This combination of scientific excellence and personal stories is one of the exhibition's particular strengths: it invites you to discover mathematics from a human perspective, to adopt new points of view and to be inspired by the life paths portrayed. In this way, it can provide impetus to pursue one's own interests, develop curiosity and strengthen confidence in one's own abilities.
The aim of the exhibition is to make role models visible and contribute to gender equality in the STEM subjects. The exhibition was launched in Berlin in 2016 and has been touring the world ever since; previous stops have included Accra, Cambridge, Rome and Canberra.
At TU Bergakademie Freiberg, the exhibition can be seen from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 in the Centre for Efficient High-Temperature Material Conversion (Winklerstraße 5, 09599 Freiberg) on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (admission free).
"As the first female rector in the 260-year history of TU Bergakademie Freiberg, I am particularly pleased that the international travelling exhibition "Women of Mathematics from around the world" is being held in Freiberg. The exhibition impressively shows that women are strong in STEM fields, especially in maths, and will hopefully be both an incentive and encouragement for young people."
TU Rector Prof Jutta Emes
"Numerous female mathematicians around the world are significantly shaping the development of mathematical disciplines today. The exhibition impressively demonstrates that mathematical excellence knows no boundaries - neither geographical nor social. I very much hope that a supportive environment and these inspiring role models will help to inspire even more young female talent for mathematics in the future and give them the space to realise their full potential."
Professor of Mathematics Marcus Waurick
"We are all human, we all do maths, we all like maths and it is important to us that we continue to develop, that we learn. (...) It's important to show that women have really revolutionised mathematics to this day and that they now have the opportunity to become mathematics professors."
Mathematics student Hanna Schiemenz
