section_path: University of Erlangen
section_name: University of Erlangen
paragraph_text: University of Erlangen
  
  From 1908 to 1915, Noether taught at Erlangen's Mathematical Institute without pay, occasionally substituting for her father, Max Noether, when he was too ill to lecture. In 1910 and 1911 she published an extension of her thesis work from three variables to n variables.
  
  Gordan retired in 1910, and Noether taught under his successors, Erhard Schmidt and Ernst Fischer, who took over from the former in 1911. According to her colleague Hermann Weyl and her biographer Auguste Dick, Fischer was an important influence on Noether, in particular by introducing her to the work of David Hilbert. Noether and Fischer shared lively enjoyment of mathematics and would often discuss lectures long after they were over; Noether is known to have sent postcards to Fischer continuing her train of mathematical thoughts.
  
  From 1913 to 1916 Noether published several papers extending and applying Hilbert's methods to mathematical objects such as fields of rational functions and the invariants of finite groups. This phase marked Noether's first exposure to abstract algebra, the field to which she would make groundbreaking contributions.
  
  In Erlangen, Noether advised two doctoral students: Hans Falckenberg and Fritz Seidelmann, who defended their theses in 1911 and 1916. Despite Noether's significant role, they were both officially under the supervision of her father. Following the completion of his doctorate, Falckenberg spent time in Braunschweig and Königsberg before becoming a professor at the University of Giessen while Seidelmann became a professor in Munich.