Sofia Kovalevskaya

15 January 1850 – 10 February 1891

Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850-1891) was a Russian mathematician who made important contributions to analysis, partial differential equations, and mechanics. She was the first woman to obtain a doctorate in mathematics in the modern sense, the first appointed to a full professorship in northern Europe (Stockholm, 1889), and winner of the French Academy of Sciences' Prix Bordin for her work on the rotation of a rigid body.

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Life events

Born in Moscow, Russian Empire
15 January 1850

She was born Sofia Korvin-Krukovskaya into a family of the Russian minor nobility.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Contracted a marriage of convenience with Vladimir Kovalevsky
September 1868

Barred as a woman from studying abroad without permission, she entered a nominal marriage with the young paleontologist Vladimir Kovalevsky to leave Russia.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Studied at the University of Heidelberg
1869 – 1870

She attended lectures in mathematics and physics at Heidelberg, where women could audit courses with professors' permission.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Studied privately with Karl Weierstrass in Berlin
1870 – 1874

Excluded from university lectures in Berlin, she was tutored privately by Weierstrass, who became her lifelong mentor.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Received doctorate summa cum laude from the University of Gottingen
1874

On the strength of three papers, including the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem on partial differential equations, she was granted a doctorate in absentia.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Birth of her daughter Sofia Vladimirovna
October 1878

Her only child, nicknamed Fufa, was born during the years she and Vladimir lived as an actual couple in Russia.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Appointed lecturer at Stockholm University
November 1883

Invited by Gosta Mittag-Leffler, she moved to Sweden and began teaching at the newly founded Stockholm University.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Won the Prix Bordin of the French Academy of Sciences
December 1888

Her memoir on the rotation of a rigid body about a fixed point, introducing the Kovalevskaya top, won the prize with its award money increased in recognition of its excellence.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Promoted to full professor at Stockholm University
June 1889

She became the first woman in northern Europe to hold a full professorship in mathematics.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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Died of pneumonia in Stockholm
10 February 1891

She died of influenza complicated by pneumonia at the age of 41 and was buried in Stockholm.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
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