in april 1935 doctors discovered a tumor in noether's pelvis. worried about complications from surgery, they ordered two days of bed rest first. during the operation they discovered an ovarian cyst "the size of a large cantaloupe". two smaller tumors in her uterus appeared to be benign and were not removed, to avoid prolonging surgery. for three days she appeared to convalesce normally, and she recovered quickly from a circulatory collapse on the fourth. on 14 april she fell unconscious, her temperature soared to , and she died. "[i]t is not easy to say what had occurred in dr. noether", one of the physicians wrote. "it is possible that there was some form of unusual and virulent infection, which struck the base of the brain where the heat centers are supposed to be located."