an absence of rigor, which might be attributed to her lack of formal training in the rudiments of analysis." Petrovich adds: "This proved to be a major handicap when she could no longer be regarded as a young prodigy to be admired but was judged by her peer mathematicians." Notwithstanding the problems with Germain's theory of vibrations, Gray states that "Germain's work was fundamental in the development of a general theory of elasticity." Mozans writes, however, that when the Eiffel tower was built and the architects inscribed the names of 72 great French scientists, Germain's name was not among them, despite the salience of her work to the tower's construction. Mozans asked: "Was she excluded from this list ... because she was a woman? It would seem so." Concerning her early work in number theory, J. H. Sampson states: "She was clever with formal algebraic manipulations; but there is little evidence that she really understood the , and her work of that period that has come down to us seems to touch only on rather superficial matters." Gray adds on to say "The inclination of sympathetic mathematicians to praise her work rather than to provide substantive criticism from which she might learn was crippling to her mathematical development." Yet Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie recognizes that "Sophie Germain's creativity manifested itself in pure and applied mathematics ... [she] provided imaginative and provocative solutions to several important problems", and, as Petrovich proposes, it may have been her very lack of training that gave her unique insights and approaches. Louis Bucciarelli and Nancy Dworsky, Germain's biographers, summarize as follows: "All the evidence argues that Sophie Germain had a mathematical brilliance that never reached fruition due to a lack of rigorous training available only to men." Germain in popular culture Germain was referenced and quoted in David Auburn's 2001 play Proof. The protagonist is a young struggling female mathematician, Catherine, who found great inspiration in the work of Germain. Germain was also mentioned in John Madden's film adaptation of the same name in a conversation between Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal). In the fictional work "The Last Theorem" by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl, Sophie Germain was credited with inspiring the central character, Ranjit Subramanian, to solve Fermat's Last Theorem. A new musical about Sophie Germain's life, entitled The Limit, premiered at VAULT Festival in London, 2019. Sophie Germain Prize The Sophie