This is not really a pleasant topic for me due to the sad life of Bernhard Riemann. Riemann lost his mother in his teenage years and lost his father in 1855, when he was 29. In the 10 years that followed, four of Bernhard’s five siblings died unexpectedly one after another. Finally, there was his own passing in 1866, when he was only 39.

All these can be read in Dedekind’s account Bernhard Riemanns Lebenslauf (will call it Lebenslauf subsequently), published in 1876 as a supplement of Riemann’s collected mathematical and scientific works.

Seriously, in my opinion, even the most cold-hearted novelist won’t give his/her characters such brutal tortures in life. The fact that all these craps happened to such a great man could be just another proof that God may not exist.

Therefore, it is somewhat comforting that Bernhard Riemann had at least a happy married life in the last 3 years of his largely tragic life.

Elise Koch was born in 1835 and was a friend of Ida, Bernhard’s only surviving sibling. The couple married in 1862. Dedekind remarked in Lebenslauf, “She was destined to share the coming years of pain with him and to beautify them with her untiring love.”

Elise helped a lot in the publication of Riemann’s collected works. She actually contributed to the last paragraphs of the Lebenslauf, i.e. a moving account on how Bernhard faced his end. Dedekind presented her writings as it is without changing anything, so one can feel a sudden change of style when reading those paragraphs.

Riemann’s sister Ida (born in 1825) later bore the family name Koch. So she should have married a relative of Elise.

In December 1863 a daughter was born to Elise and Bernhard and was also named Ida. As a child she was very mathematically talented, as Elise wrote to Dedekind,

Meine Ida ist schon ein recht großes Mädchen, die Weihnacht 11 Jahre alt wird. Sie ähnelt in vielen Stücken ihrem Vater, Rechnen ist ihre liebste Beschäftigung, sie rechnet oft 30 Exempel über die Aufgabe, aus purem Vergnügen u. ist in ihrem Rechenbuche weiter, als die Mädchen 1ster Classe, zweiter Ordnung. Wenn sie ein Junge wäre!

Basically, Ida was 11 years old then. Mathematics was her favorite subject and she often practiced 30 more questions than what homework asks, out of pure interest!!!

“If only she were a boy!” says the last sentence. This surprises me quite a bit, since I am so used to a world with feminism already. Such a sentence was apparently normal at that time. This reminds me that women were subconsciously discriminated in the 19th century especially for lower-than-middle classes.

(However, I hypothesize that the situation would have been different if Ida were born to the Dedekind family, where independence of daughters was surprisingly strongly encouraged.)

In 1884 Ida Riemann married Carl Schilling, a professor at Göttingen. Here is the wedding photo of them.

I would say I can see the brightness of Ida in this photo.

The couple had at least 6 children. Their first child Bernd was born in 1885 (of course named after Bernhard), the next, Hans, was born in 1886. In 1886 Ida was 22, exactly my age.

I can’t help thinking that while I am able to learn abstract algebra in the university today, Ida had two children at 22 already. Apparently, the lack of serious education for females and the heavy chores of family have to be blamed.

This is another photo taken in 1909. The sharpness in Ida can still be seen, but that’s all.

Not the bright girl working out problems out of pure interest anymore. A potential great mathematician somehow just vanished.

To add to the sadness, 3 children of the Schillings died before Ida. Here’s the photo of the family grave.

Many great female achievers in those days didn’t marry at all. Among them were Emmy Noether and Agnes Pockels. This could mean nothing but coincidence, but the social pressure on females is great even today.

I hope every little Ida will achieve her dream – as a person who makes careers, and not just a daughter, a wife, or a mother.