Sofya Kovalevskaya: biography, photos and achievements. The world's first female professor of mathematics

Kovalevskaya Sofya Vasilievna was born on January 3, 1850 in Moscow. Her mother was Elizabeth Schubert. Father, the general of artillery Korvin-Krukovsky, at the time of the birth of his daughter was the chief of the arsenal. When the girl was six, he retired, settling in a family estate. Let's consider further, thanks to which Sofya Kovalevskaya is known.

Biography: childhood

After the whole family (parents and two daughters) settled in the father's family estate, the girl was hired by the teacher. The only subject to which the future professor of mathematics showed no particular interest, nor any ability, was arithmetic. However, over time, the situation has changed dramatically. The study of arithmetic lasted up to 10 and a half years. Subsequently, Sofya Kovalevskaya believed that it was this period that gave her the basis of all knowledge. The girl very well studied the subject and quickly solved all the problems. Her teacher Malevich before the beginning of algebra allowed her to study the arithmetic of Bourdon (two-volume course, which was taught at that time at the University of Paris). One of the neighbors, noting the successes of the girl, recommended her father to hire a lieutenant of the Strannolyubsky fleet for continuing education. The new teacher in the first lesson on differential calculus was surprised at the speed with which Sonya learned the concepts of derivative and limit.

Fictitious marriage

In 1863, the Mariinsky Gymnasium opened pedagogical courses, which included a verbal and natural-mathematical department. Sisters Anna and Sophia dreamed of getting there. But the problem was that unmarried girls were not enrolled in the gymnasium. Therefore, they were forced to conclude a fictitious marriage. Vladimir Kovalevsky was chosen as Anna's bride. However, the wedding between them never took place. On one of the dates, he told Anna that he was ready to marry, but with her sister, Sonia. After some time he was introduced into the house and became, with the consent of his father, the groom of the second sister. At that time he was 26, and Sophia was 18 years old.

New life stage

Nobody assumed then, with what tasks after the wedding Sofya Kovalevskaya will cope. Her husband's biography amazed with its fascination of anyone who got to know him. He started earning at the age of 16, making translations of foreign novels for the merchants of the Gostiny Dvor. Kovalevsky possessed an amazing memory, extraordinary activity and humanitarian abilities. He categorically refused the bureaucratic service, choosing instead publishing activity in St. Petersburg. It was he who printed and translated literature, which was extremely in demand by the advanced people of the country. Having moved with her husband and sister to St. Petersburg, Sofya Kovalevskaya secretly began attending lectures. She decided to give all her strength only to science. The only thing that Sofya Kovalevskaya wanted to do was mathematics. Having passed the exam and received the certificate of maturity, she again returned to Strannolyubsky. With it, she began to study science in depth, planning to continue working abroad.

Education

In early April 1869, Sofya Kovalevskaya with her sister and husband left for Vienna. There were geologists, then necessary to Vladimir Onufrievich. However, there were no strong scientists in Vienna. Therefore, Kovalevskaya decides to go to Heidelberg. In her representations, this was the promised land for students. After overcoming a number of difficulties, the commission allowed Sophia to listen to lectures in physics and mathematics. For three semesters she attended the course of Koenigsberger, who taught the theory of elliptic functions. In addition, she listened to lectures on physics and mathematics Kirchhoff, Helmholtz, Dubois Ramone, worked in a laboratory under the guidance of a chemist Bunsen. All these people were then the most famous scientists of Germany. Teachers were amazed at the abilities that Kovalevskaya possessed. Sofya Vasilyevna worked very hard. She quickly mastered all the initial elements, which enabled her to begin independent research. She received rave reviews about herself from Koenigsberger to his teacher - the greatest scientist of the time, Carl Weierstrass. The latter was called "a great analyst."

Working with Weierstrass

Sofya Kovalevskaya in the name of her chosen higher mission overcame fear and shyness and in early October 1870 went to Berlin. Professor Weierstrass was not disposed to the conversation and, to get rid of the visitor, gave her several tasks from the field of hyperbolic functions, inviting her in a week. Having forgotten about the visit, the scientist did not expect to see Kovalevskaya at the appointed time. She appeared on the threshold and announced that all tasks had been solved. After a while, Weierstrass asked that Kovalevskaya be allowed to listen to mathematical lectures. However, the agreement of the high council was not achieved. At the University of Berlin, not only did women enroll students. They were not even allowed to attend the lectures as free listeners. Therefore Kovalevskaya had to confine herself to private lessons with Weierstrass. As contemporaries noted, an outstanding scientist usually suppressed listeners with mental superiority. But inquisitiveness and the desire for knowledge Kovalevskaya demanded from Weierstrass enhanced activity. He himself often had to solve different tasks in order to adequately respond to the rather complicated questions of his student. Contemporaries noted that one should be grateful to Kovalevskaya for the fact that she was able to bring Weierstrass out of isolation.

The first independent work

In it the question concerning the equilibrium of the ring of Saturn was investigated . Before Kovalevskaya this problem was dealt with by Laplace (French astronomer, physicist and mathematician). In his work he considered the ring of Saturn in the form of a complex of several thin elements that do not influence each other. In the course of the research he established that in the cross section it is represented in the form of an ellipse. However, this decision was only the first and very simplistic. Kovalevskaya began to study for a more accurate establishment of the equilibrium of the ring. She determined that in the cross section one should be represented in the form of an oval.

Thesis

From the beginning of the winter of 1873 to the spring of 1874, Kovalevskaya studied the differential equations of partial derivatives. She intended to present her work as a doctoral dissertation. Her work aroused admiration in the scientific community. A little later, however, it was established that a similar study was already conducted by Augustin Cauchy - an outstanding French scientist. But in her work Kovalevskaya gave the theorem a form, perfect in its simplicity, rigor and accuracy. Therefore, the problem was called the "Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem". It is included in all basic analysis courses. Of particular interest was the analysis of the heat equation. In the study, Kovalevskaya identified the existence of special cases. This was a significant discovery for that time. At this period her apprenticeship ended. Council of the University of GцTttingen she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Mathematical Philosophy and Master of Fine Arts "with the highest praise."

Relations with the husband

In 1874 Sofya Kovalevskaya came back to Russia. However, at home there were terrible conditions at that time, which could not allow her to do science the way she wanted. By the time the fictitious marriage with her husband had become real. The first time they stayed in Germany, they lived in different cities, were educated in different institutions. Communication with her husband was conducted through letters. However, relations subsequently took a different form. In 1878, Kovalevsky had a daughter. After her birth, she spent about six months in bed. The doctors no longer hoped for recovery. The organism still won, but the heart was struck by a serious disease.

The collapse of the family

Kovalevskaya had a husband, a child, a favorite pastime. It would seem that this should have been enough for complete happiness. But Kovalevskaya was characterized by maximalism in everything. She constantly made high demands on life and on all those who surrounded her. She wanted to constantly hear from her husband's oath of love, she wanted him to give her all the time signs of attention. But Kovalevsky did not do this. He was a different person, as passionate about science as his wife. A complete collapse in relations came when they decided to take up business. However, despite this, Kovalevskaya remained faithful to science. But in Russia she could not continue her work. After the assassination of the tsar, the situation in the country deteriorated sharply. Sophia and her daughter went to Berlin, and her husband to Odessa, to her brother. However, Vladimir Onufrievich was greatly confused in his business affairs and shot himself at night from April 15 to 16, 1883. Kovalevskaya was in Paris when she received this news. After the funeral, returning to Berlin, she went to Weierstrass.

Stockholm University

Weierstrass, learning about the death of her husband Kovalevskaya, who always interfered with Sophia's plans to make science the goal of all life, wrote to Mitsg-Leffler, his colleague. In the letter he said that now there is nothing to prevent the student from continuing to work. Soon, Weierstrass was able to please Kovalevskaya with a positive response from Sweden. January 30, 1884, she read the first lecture. The course that Kovalevskaya read in German was of a private nature. Nevertheless, he made her an excellent recommendation. At the end of June 1884, she received news that she had been appointed to the post of professor for 5 years.

New work

More and more, the woman professor deepened her research work. Now she was studying one of the most complicated problems concerning the rotation of a rigid body. She believed that if she could solve it, her name would be included among the most outstanding scientists of the world. According to her calculations, it took another 5 years to complete the task.

Writing Activities

In the spring of 1886 Sofya Vasilievna received news of the grave condition of her sister. She went home. Kovalevskaya returned to Stockholm with heavy feelings. In this state, she could not continue research. However, she found a way to talk about her feelings, herself, her thoughts. Literary work was the second important thing that Sofya Kovalevskaya was doing. The book she wrote at the time with Anna Charlotte Edgren-Lefler so captured her that she did not return to research during all this time.

Historical discovery

Recovering from the upheavals, Kovalevskaya again returns to scientific work. She tries to solve the problem of rotating a solid heavy body around a static point. A problem is reduced to the integration of a system of equations that always has three definite integrals. The task is completely solved when it is possible to find the fourth. Before the discovery of Kovalevskaya he was twice found. The scientists who investigated the problem were Lagrange and Euler. Kovalevskaya discovered the third case and the fourth integral to it. The solution in its entirety had a rather complex form. The perfect knowledge of hyperelliptic functions helped to successfully cope with the task. And now 4 algebraic integrals exist only in three cases: Lagrange, Euler, and Kovalevskaya.

Borden Award

In 1888, on December 6, the Paris Academy sent a letter to Kovalevskaya. It was said that she was awarded the Borden Prize. It should be said that for half a century since its establishment, only 10 people have become its owners. At the same time, all these ten times she was not awarded in full, but for individual, private decisions. Before the opening of Kovalevskaya this award was not awarded to anyone for three consecutive years. A week after receiving the news, she arrived in Paris. President of the Academy Zhansen, an astronomer and a physicist, warmly greeted Sofya Vasilyevna. He said that, in view of the seriousness of her research, the premium was increased from 3 to 5 thousand francs.

Award of the Swedish Academy

After receiving the Borden Prize, Kovalevskaya settled near Paris. Here she continued research on the rotation of bodies for the competition for the award of King Oscar II of the Swedish Academy. In the autumn, at the beginning of the semester at the university, she returned to Stockholm. The work was very fast. Kovalevskaya wanted to have time to complete the research in order to present the work at the contest. For her work she received an award of fifteen hundred crowns.

An attempt to return to Russia

Despite the successes, Kovalevskaya did not enjoy anything. She went to the treatment, but did not finish it. After a short time, her health was again undermined. In this state, Kovalevskaya could not continue her studies and again turned to literature. Her longing for Russia, she tried to drown out stories about people and her homeland. She was extremely unbearable to be in a foreign land. But, despite the overwhelming success, she had no chance to take a place in the domestic universities. Hope emerged when, on November 7, 1888, she was elected a corresponding member of the Physics and Mathematics Department of the Russian Academy. In April 1890 she went to her homeland. Kovalevskaya hoped that she would be elected a member of the academy instead of the deceased Bunyakovskii. Thus, she could acquire a material independence that would facilitate the continuation of research in her country.

last years of life

In St. Petersburg, Kovalevskaya several times was on a visit to the president of the Russian Academy. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich was always courteous and polite to her, saying that it would be fine if she returned to her homeland. But when Kovalevskaya wanted to be present as a corresponding member at a meeting of the Academy, she was refused, because it was "not in the customs." She could not inflict more insult in Russia. In September Kovalevskaya came back to Stockholm. On January 29, 1891, she died at the age of 41 from heart failure.

Conclusion

Kovalevskaya was an outstanding person. She was extremely demanding of everything that surrounded her. This is not an ordinary Russian mathematician and mechanic, he is a great scientist who gave all his strength to science. It is sad to realize that in Russia at that time it was not given due attention, its merits were not recognized, despite the high popularity in scientific circles abroad. Not far from Velikiye Luk is the museum of Sofia Kovalevskaya. Polybino was her small homeland, the place where her craving for science was manifested.