Sofya Kovalevskaya | |
|---|---|
Софья Ковалевская | |
 Kovalevskaya in 1880 | |
| Born | Sofya Vasilyevna Korvin-Krukovskaya 15 January 1850 |
| Died | 10 February 1891 (aged 41) |
| Resting place | Norra begravningsplatsen |
| Other names |
|
| Alma mater | University of Göttingen (PhD) |
| Known for | |
| Spouse | Vladimir Kovalevskij (m. 1868; died 1883) |
| Children | Sofia (1878) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics, Mechanics |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | (1874) |
| Doctoral advisor | Karl Weierstrass |
Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (Russian: Софья Васильевна Ковалевская), born Korvin-Krukovskaya (15 January [O.S. 3 January] 1850 – 10 February 1891), was a Russian mathematician who made noteworthy contributions to analysis, partial differential equations and mechanics. She was a pioneer for women in mathematics around the world – the first woman to earn a doctorate (in the modern sense) in mathematics, the first woman appointed to a full professorship in northern Europe and one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor.[1] According to historian of science Ann Hibner Koblitz, Kovalevskaya was "the greatest known woman scientist before the twentieth century".[2]: 255
Historian of mathematics Roger Cooke writes:
... the more I reflect on her life and consider the magnitude of her achievements, set against the weight of the obstacles she had to overcome, the more I admire her. For me she has taken on a heroic stature achieved by very few other people in history. To venture, as she did, into academia, a world almost no woman had yet explored, and to be consequently the object of curious scrutiny, while a doubting society looked on, half-expecting her to fail, took tremendous courage and determination. To achieve, as she did, at least two major results of lasting value to scholarship, is evidence of a considerable talent, developed through iron discipline.[3]: 1
Her sister was the socialist Anne Jaclard.
There are several alternative transliterations of her name. She herself used Sophie Kowalevski (or occasionally Kowalevsky) in her academic publications. In Sweden she was known as Sonja Kovalevsky; Sonja (Russian Соня) is her Russian nickname.
- ^ "Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya.". Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
- ^ Koblitz, Ann Hibner (1993). A convergence of lives: Sofia Kovalevskaia: scientist, writer, revolutionary (Reprinted in hardcover. ed.). New Brunswick (New Jersey): Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813519630.
- ^ Roger L. Cooke, "The life of S. V. Kovalevskaya", in V. B. Kuznetsov, ed., The Kowalevski Property, American Mathematical Society, 2002, p. 1–19.