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Sonya Kovalevskaya

Born 15 January 1850(1850-01-15)
Moscow, Russia
Died 10 February 1891 (aged 41)
Stockholm, Sweden

Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (Russian Софья Васильевна Ковалевская). Events 588 BC - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah 's reign For the game see 1850 (board game. 1850 ( MDCCCL) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Events 1355 - The St Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead Year 1891 ( MDCCCXCI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common ('stɔkhɔlm is Sweden 's Capital and its largest City. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Russian ( transliteration:,) is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages (January 15, 1850-February 10, 1891), was the first major Russian female mathematician, and also the first woman who was appointed to a full professorship in Europe in 1889 (Sweden). Events 588 BC - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah 's reign For the game see 1850 (board game. 1850 ( MDCCCL) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link Events 1355 - The St Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead Year 1891 ( MDCCCXCI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Female (♀ is the Sex of an Organism, or a part of an organism which produces ova (egg cells A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of Mathematics. The meaning of the word professor ( Latin: professor, person who professes to be an expert in some art or science teacher of highest rank) varies "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Her first name is sometimes given as Sonya. There are many alternative spellings used for her names; she herself used Sophie Kowalevski (or occasionally Kowalevsky) in her publications.

Contents

Life and career

Sofia Kovalevskaya was born in Moscow, Russia of an artillery officer and a German scholar, being the second of three children. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Her father nurtured her interest in mathematics and hired Strannoliubskii to tutor her in calculus. Calculus ( Latin, calculus, a small stone used for counting is a branch of Mathematics that includes the study of limits, Derivatives However, at the time she could not get a university degree except by going to Europe with the permission of her father or her husband. Thus, she entered a marriage of convenience with Vladimir O. Kovalevsky, then a young paleontology student, with whom she left Russia, in company also of her sister Anyuta.

Kovalevskaya was admitted in 1869 to the University of Heidelberg, Germany, which allowed her to study as long as the professors involved approved. The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg ( University of Heidelberg, Ruperto Carola, Heidelberg University, or simply Heidelberg) is a Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Shortly after beginning her studies there, she visited London with her husband Vladimir, who visited his acquaintances Thomas Huxley and Charles Darwin, while Sonya was invited to one of George Eliot's Sunday salons. Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895 was an English Biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life Mary Ann (Marian Evans ( 22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880) better known by her Pen name George Eliot, was an There, at age nineteen, she met Herbert Spencer and was led into a debate, at George Eliot's instigation, on "woman's capacity for abstract thought". Herbert Spencer ( April 27, 1820 – December 8, 1903) was an English Philosopher; prominent classical liberal Mary Ann (Marian Evans ( 22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880) better known by her Pen name George Eliot, was an This was well before she made her notable contribution of the "Kovalevski top" to the brief list of known examples of integrable rigid body motion. George Eliot was writing Middlemarch at the time, in which one finds the remarkable sentence: "In short, woman was a problem which, since Mr. Middlemarch is a Novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans later Marian Evans Brooke's mind felt blank before it, could hardly be less complicated than the revolutions of an irregular solid. " (Middlemarch, Chapter IV). Middlemarch is a Novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans later Marian Evans

After two years of mathematical studies at Heidelberg, she moved to the University of Berlin, where she had to take private lessons from Karl Weierstrass since the university didn't admit women at all. Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass ( Weierstraß) ( October 31, 1815 &ndash February 19, 1897) was a German mathematician Kovalevskaya prepared three different doctoral dissertations before settling on a fourth one that, with the support of Weierstrass, earned her a doctorate summa cum laude from the University of Göttingen in 1874. A doctorate is an Academic degree that indicates the highest level of academic achievement The University of Göttingen ( German: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) is a University in the city of Göttingen, Germany. This meant that her achievements were so impressive, that the University did not require her to attend any lectures or examinations in order to award her the degree. Her result, now known as the Cauchy-Kowalevski theorem, was published in (Kowalevski 1875). Thus, Sofia Kovalevskaya became the first woman in Europe to earn a doctorate in mathematics.

The return of the Kovalevskys to Russia was futile, as no university would hire them with their European degrees. Returning to Germany, they consummated their marriage leading to the birth of a daughter, Sofia “Fufa. ” When the girl turned one year old, Kovalevskaya resumed her work in mathematics.

After Kovalevsky's suicide in 1883, Kovalevskaya, with the support of Gösta Mittag-Leffler, was offered a position as a private docent at the Stockholm University in Sweden. Magnus Gustaf (Gösta Mittag-Leffler ( 16 March 1846 – 7 July 1927) was a Swedish Mathematician. Stockholm University ( Stockholms universitet) is a state University in Stockholm, Sweden. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. The next year she was on tenure-track and began editing Acta Mathematica. Acta Mathematica is a journal publishing original research papers in all fields of Mathematics. In 1888 she won the French Prix Bordin for her work (Kovalevsky 1989) on the Kovalevsky top, which included analysis of the dynamics of Saturns rings. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Saturn has the most extensive Planetary ring system of any planet in the Solar System. In 1889 she won a prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the same year was appointed professor in Stockholm University, while she also achieved a chair in the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences or Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. The Russian Academy of Sciences (Российская Академия Наук Rossi'iskaya Akade'miya Nau'k, shortened to PAH RAN) consists of the National She was never offered a professorship in Russia, but received other honors from her homeland when she died of pneumonia in 1891 at forty-one.

Tributes

Sonia Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day is a program named after Kovalevsky and is a grant-making initiative of the Association for Women in Mathematics(AWM), funding workshops around the country which encourage girls to explore mathematics. The Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM is a non-profit organization devoted to promoting equal treatment and equal opportunity for women and girls in the mathematical sciences

The Sonia Kovalevsky Lecture is sponsored annually by the AWM, and is intended to highlight significant contributions of women to applied or computational mathematics. Past honorees have included Irene Fonseca (2006), Ingrid Daubechies (2005), Joyce R. Ingrid Daubechies (born August 17, 1954) (approximate pronunciation "Dobe-uh-shee" is a Belgian Physicist and Mathematician McLaughlin (2004) and Linda R. Petzold (2003).

The Kovalevskaya crater on the Moon is named in her honour. Kovalevskaya is a prominent lunar Impact crater that is located on the Moon 's far side relative to the Earth.

In Film

Sofia Kovalevskaya has been the subject of two Russian film biographies.

Directed by Iosef Shapiro, starring Yelena Yunger, Lev Kosolov and Tatyana Sezenyevskaya

Directed by Ayan Shakhmaliyeva, starring Yelena Safonova, Vladimir Letenkov, and Natalya Sayov.

Selected publications

References

This article incorporates material from Sofia Kovalevskaya on PlanetMath, which is licensed under the GFDL. PlanetMath is a free, collaborative online Mathematics Encyclopedia.

External links

Persondata
NAME Kovalevskaya, Sofia Vasilyevna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ковалевская, Софья Васильевна (Russian)
SHORT DESCRIPTION First major Russian female mathematician
DATE OF BIRTH January 15, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow, Russia
DATE OF DEATH February 10, 1891
PLACE OF DEATH Stockholm, Sweden
WorldCat is a Union catalog which itemizes the collections of more than 10000 libraries which participate in the OCLC global cooperative Events 588 BC - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah 's reign For the game see 1850 (board game. 1850 ( MDCCCL) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Events 1355 - The St Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead Year 1891 ( MDCCCXCI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common ('stɔkhɔlm is Sweden 's Capital and its largest City. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation.
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