The prize had been opened to the competition of the mathematicians of the world, and the astonishment of the committee of the French Academy was beyond expression when it was found that the successful contestant was a woman.[131] Everyone admired her varied and profound knowledge, but, above all, her amazing powers of analysis. A German mathematician, Kronecker, did not hesitate to declare that "the history of mathematics will speak of her as one of the rarest investigators."[132] Shortly before her premature death, she had planned a great work on mathematics. All who are interested in the intellectual capacities and achievements of woman must regret that she was unable to complete what would undoubtedly have been the noblest monument of woman's scientific genius. She was then in the prime of life and perfectly equipped for the work she had in mind. Considering the extraordinary receptive and productive power of this richly dowered woman, there can be little doubt, had she lived a few years longer, that she would have produced a work that would have caused her to be ranked among the greatest mathematicians of the nineteenth century. It is pleasant to record that this woman of masculine mind, masculine energy and masculine genius, far from being mannish or unwomanly, was, on the contrary, a woman of a truly feminine heart; and that, although a giantess in intellectual attainments, she was in grace and charm and delicacy of sentiment one of the noblest types of beautiful womanhood. She could with the greatest ease turn from a lecture on _Abel's Functions_ or a research on Saturn's rings to the writing of verse in French or of a novel in Russian or to collaborating with her friend, the Duchess of Cajanello, on a drama in Swedish, or to making a lace collar for her little daughter, Fouzi, to whom she was most tenderly attached.[133] Little more than a quarter of a century has elapsed since Strindberg, expressing the sentiment of the great majority of the men of his time, declared that a woman professor of mathematics is a monstrosity. But during this short period what a change has been effected in the attitude of the world toward women who devote themselves to the study and the teaching of science! Women mathematicians are found to-day in all civilized countries, and no sane person now considers it any more "unwomanly" or more "monstrous" for them to study or teach mathematics than for them to teach music or needlework. Yet more. They are now frequent contributors to mathematical magazines and to the official bulletins of learned societies, and not infrequently they are on the editorial staffs of publications devoted exclusively to mathematics. They are also found as computers in some of the largest astronomical observatories, where the speed and accuracy of their work have evoked the most favorable comment.