For example, as a young woman, she wanted desperately to pursue a career as a doctor or chemist ("to be of use"), her family would not allow their single daughters to go abroad. In addition, her ground-breaking work in mathematics made her male counterparts reconsider their archaic notions of women's inferiority to men in such scientific arenas.īut before conquering these frontiers, she had to overcome personal challenges in her own family. It was her struggle to obtain the best education available which began to open doors at universities to women. Sonya was not only a great mathematician, but also a writer and advocate of women's rights in the 19th century. She was also one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. Why She's Important: She was the first major Russian female mathematician, responsible for important original contributions to analysis, differential equations and mechanics, and the first woman appointed to a full professorship in Northern Europe. She mastered these subjects quickly over one winter, much to the astonishment of her professor. It took her father four years to agree to let her take private lessons in analytic geometry and calculus in St. The neighbor-professor was so impressed that Sonya had independently rediscovered the method by which the concept of sine had developed historically, that he tried to persuade Sonya's father to arrange serious training in mathematics for her. To make sense of some of the derivations, she substituted "a chord for the mysterious sine," and everything worked for small angles. When Sonya tried to read the section on optics, she bumped into trigonometry, a subject she had never heard of. About a year later a neighbor, who was a professor of science at a nearby school, gave the family a copy of an elementary physics book he'd written. Secretly, Sonya borrowed an algebra book from one of her tutors and continued to study "under the covers" at night. But her father believed that there was no need nor place for learned women, so he put a stop to further mathematical instruction. The family lived comfortably on a country estate, where Sonya, her sister and brother were brought up by a nanny until their education was taken over by governesses and private tutors.īy the age of thirteen Sonya showed an unusual ability and enthusiasm for algebra and geometry. Her father was a military officer and a land holder her mother, the granddaughter of a famous Russian astronomer, was an accomplished musician. She grew up a member of Russia's privileged social class. She married a man she did not love just to get away from her father and obtain a formal education. As a young woman, she could study math and physics only in secret. Sonya Kovalevsky (also known as Sofia Kowalevski) was born in Russia in 1850 and became a noted mathematician in spite of a father who "had a horror of learned women," according to historical accounts. One of the world's best mathematicians of her era established first major result in general theory of partial differential equations first modern European woman appointed to full professorship advocate of women's rights Sonya Kovalevsky – Russian-born Mathematician
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