Kovalevskaya S.V., (1850-1891), mathematician

Categories / Science. Education/Personalia
KOVALEVSKAYA Sofia Vasilievna (1850-1891), mathematician, writer. The first female mathematics professor in the world and the first female Associate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1889). Came to St. Petersburg in 1866 attempting to enroll at university, denied by the administration. Took private lessons in high mathematics with various St. Petersburg professors, until in 1868 she earned the right to listen to I.M. Sechenov"s lectures and study anatomy at the Medical Surgical Academy. That same year she went to Western Europe, where she studied until 1874. Unable to teach and conduct scientific work in Russia, she went abroad again in 1881. In 1884 she became professor of mathematics at the University of Stockholm. Kovalevskaya left behind numerous papers on mathematical analysis, mechanics, and astronomy. She also wrote fiction and memoirs, including Memoirs of Childhood, the narrative The Nihilist Girl, and other works. In St. Petersburg, she used to live at 14 First Line of Vasilievsky Island. In 1965, her name was given to a new street in the Kalininsky District (Sofia Kovalevskaya Street).

Work: Memoirs and Narratives (Moscow, 1974).

References: Полубаринова-Кочина П. Я. Софья Васильевна Ковалевская, 1850-1891. М., 1981; Русская душа: 150-летие С. В. Ковалевской: Историогр. сб. ст. и материалов. М., 2001.

O. N. Ansberg. Kovalevskaya Sofia Vasilievna
Sechenov Ivan Mikhailovich
1st Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 12
Sofia Kovalevskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Полубаринова-Кочина П.Я. Софья Васильевна Ковалевская, 1850-1891. М., 1981
Русская душа: 150-летие С. В. Ковалевской: Историогр. сб. ст. и материалов. М., 2001
Воспоминания. Повести. М., 1974 Russian Academy of Sciences