Sophia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya - Her Life And Work (Men of Russian Science)

Shared by Juliette Moreau • physics, soviet literature, russian scientists • 1957

Sophia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (1850–1891) was a pioneering Russian mathematician and the first major female mathematician in modern Europe. Born into an aristocratic family, she showed an early aptitude for mathematics, teaching herself calculus from notes that had been used to paper the walls of her room. Due to restrictions on women’s education in Russia, she entered into a marriage of convenience with Vladimir Kovalevsky in order to travel abroad for studies. She eventually earned a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Göttingen in 1874 under the supervision of Karl Weierstrass,