Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (born 1850)

Sofia Kovalevskaya

Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya was a Russian mathematician who made noteworthy contributions to analysis, partial differential equations and mechanics. She was a pioneer of equality for women in mathematics. Kovalevskaya was the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics, in the modern sense of that term, the first woman in Europe in modern times appointed to a full professorship in mathematics, as well as one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. According to historian of science Ann Hibner Koblitz, Kovalevskaya was "the greatest known woman scientist before the twentieth century".

Born

1850

January 15

Died

1891

Era

1850s

Country

About

Sofia, in brief

Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya was a Russian mathematician who made noteworthy contributions to analysis, partial differential equations and mechanics. She was a pioneer of equality for women in mathematics. Kovalevskaya was the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics, in the modern sense of that term, the first woman in Europe in modern times appointed to a full professorship in mathematics, as well as one of the first women to work for a scientific journal as an editor. According to historian of science Ann Hibner Koblitz, Kovalevskaya was "the greatest known woman scientist before the twentieth century".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

  1. 1850 Born
  2. 1891 Died

Also on January 15

What else happened on this day, through history

See all of January 15 →

Same-day contemporaries

Also born on January 15

See everything on January 15 →

Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1850

Keep going

More to explore