childhood in Vitebsk province and how to find out more about it
Sofya Kovalevskaya. Photo vm.ru
She was called the "Queen of Mathematics", "Princess of Science" and "Professor Sonia". She is the first Russian woman professor of mathematics and laureate of the Borden Prize of the Paris Academy of Sciences. She wrote poetry and prose, but became famous for discovering the third classical case of the solvability of the rotation problem solid around a fixed point. She dreamed of working at Russian universities, but, having been refused, she was forced to teach in Stockholm for several years. She - Sofya Vasilievna Kovalevskaya, a brilliant scientist, a famous mathematician, a talented writer and simply beautiful woman with a difficult fate.
Sofya Kovalevskaya January 3 (15), 1850 in Moscow. Her dad is a general Vasily Vasilievich Korvin-Krukovsky he soon retired and moved with his family to the Polibino estate in the Vitebsk province (today the village of Polibino, Velikoluksky district, Pskov region). It was on the territory of the then province that the future great mathematician spent his entire childhood.
The Polibino estate. Photo plus7-db.com
Despite the fact that the Korvin-Krukovsky family led a rather secluded lifestyle, the children - Sophia and elder sister Anna – received a good education at home. They were taught drawing and music, good manners And foreign languages. An English governess took care of the girls' education Margarita Frantsevna Smith. Later, the father decided that the exact sciences would not hurt the girl, and hired her as an arithmetic teacher. Joseph Ignatievich Malevich. It is interesting that at first Sophia did not gravitate toward mathematics, although she demonstrated good ingenuity and an inquisitive mind. Her passion for mathematics was influenced by her uncle Pyotr Vasilyevich, who, although he was not a mathematician himself, read many books about mathematics and talked about it with enthusiasm. And one came in handy, here’s how Sofya Vasilievna herself described it in “Childhood Memories”:
When we moved to live in the village, the entire house had to be redecorated and all the rooms covered with new wallpaper. But since there were many rooms, there wasn’t enough wallpaper for one of our children’s rooms... So it stood for many years with one wall covered with plain paper. But, by a lucky coincidence, this preliminary pasting was used precisely from sheets of lithographed lectures by Ostrogradsky on differential and integral calculus, acquired by my father in his youth.
These sheets, covered with strange, incomprehensible formulas, soon attracted my attention. I remember how, as a child, I spent whole hours in front of this mysterious wall, trying to make out at least individual phrases and find the order in which the sheets should follow each other. From long daily contemplation appearance Many formulas were engraved in my memory, and the text itself left a deep imprint on my brain, although at the very moment of reading it remained incomprehensible to me.
Sophia, considering herself an “unloved” daughter and trying to win her parents’ love, studied very diligently. But she was so carried away that her father, who was prejudiced against learned women, decided to stop lessons. And then the girl was forced to read at night by the light of a lamp - her two-volume textbook “Bourdon's Algebra Course”, which was used at that time at the University of Paris. And one day the future scientist approached her neighbor on the estate, professor of physics Tyrtov, and asked him a few questions. He was so delighted with the depth of the girl’s knowledge and her clear mind that he considered it his duty to convince Sophia’s father to continue the baby’s education, recommending taking lessons from an outstanding mathematician Alexander Nikolaevich Strannolyubsky. So, from the age of fifteen, Sophia began studying with him during the family’s winter visits to St. Petersburg.
Alexander Strannolyubsky. Photo persons-info.com
Already in the first lesson of differential calculus, the famous mathematician and teacher at the Naval School was amazed at how the girl grasped the material, as if she knew everything in advance. How could he know that Sophia remembered the sheets of lectures by Mikhail Vasilyevich Ostrogradsky, with which her room on the Polibino estate was papered...
Sophia did great success, and after a couple of years I was already solving the most difficult problems. It became clear that private lessons, even from the best teacher, cannot replace a university course. But she couldn’t get it in Russia - Russian universities didn’t accept women to study. And in order to get into the pedagogical courses that opened in 1863 with natural, mathematical and verbal departments at the Mariinsky Women's Gymnasium, it was necessary to enter into a fictitious marriage. Therefore, Sofya Vasilievna, who was 18 years old at that time, married a 26-year-old Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky, a broad-minded man who made his living from publishing. Their marriage will only turn from fictitious to real in a few years.
The Kovalevsky family. Photo lib2.znaimo.com.ua
With her husband, Sophia moved to St. Petersburg, and in 1869 to Vienna. But even there she does not find good mathematicians, so she goes to Heidelberg, where she listens to lectures on mathematics and physics. Then in Berlin, Sofya Vasilievna improves her knowledge in mathematics during private lessons from Karl Weierstrass, thanks to his support, receives a PhD degree from the University of Göttingen in absentia. Sofia Kovalevskaya’s dream of working in Russia could not come true - she was denied. As a result, for eight years from 1884 she taught at Stockholm University. Moreover, for the first year (and this was a prerequisite) she lectured at German, and the second is in Swedish. By the way, she mastered this language so well that she began to write her mathematical works and literary works in it.
University Observatory in Stockholm. Photo mreadz.com
In 1888, she received the Borden Prize of the Paris Academy of Sciences for her main work, “On the Rotation of a Rigid Body Around a Fixed Point,” and a year later, for her second work on this topic, the prize Swedish Academy Sci. There, in Sweden, together with the Swedish writer Anne-Charlotte Leffler wrote the drama “The Struggle for Happiness”, and then a story about her childhood - “Childhood Memories” and the novel “Nihilist”.
In 1889, Sofya Vasilievna was elected corresponding member of the physics and mathematics department Russian Academy Sciences, but when she expressed a desire to attend a meeting of the academy, she was refused, citing the fact that the presence of women at the meeting “is not in the customs of the academy.”
Sofia Kovalevskaya died at the age of 41 on January 29 (February 10), 1891 in Stockholm, where she was buried.
Those who want to learn more about Sofya Vasilievna Kovalevskaya, or more precisely, about her childhood spent in the Vitebsk province, can visit the memorial museum-estate in the village of Polibino, Velikoluksky district, Pskov region. Fortunately, it is located nearby - only 130 km.
How to get to Polibino from Vitebsk
The museum is located on the former estate of Sofia Vasilievna’s father, where a house supposedly built in the mid-19th century, an outbuilding and a park are still preserved. The exhibition of the Polibino Museum, by the way, the only museum in the world dedicated to Sofia Kovalevskaya, presents a collection of her personal belongings and documents, as well as rare furniture from the 18th century, a cabinet piano with candelabra, unique dishes, a rug embroidered by Sofia Vasilyevna herself and much more.
Kovalevskaya Sofya Vasilievna was born on January 3, 1850 in Moscow. Her mother was Elisabeth Schubert. The father, artillery general Korvin-Krukovsky, served as head of the arsenal at the time of his daughter’s birth. When the girl turned six, he retired, settling on the family estate. Let us consider further why Sofya Kovalevskaya is famous.
Biography: childhood
After the whole family (parents and two daughters) settled on her father’s family estate, a teacher was hired for the girl. The only subject to which future professor Mathematics did not show any particular interest or any abilities, there 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 studied the subject very well and solved all the problems quite quickly. Her teacher Malevich, before starting algebra, allowed her to study Bourdon's arithmetic (a two-volume course that was taught at that time in One of the neighbors, noting the girl's success, recommended her father to hire naval lieutenant Strannolyubsky to continue her education. The new teacher was surprised at the speed at the first lesson. with which Sonya has learned the limits.
Fictitious marriage
In 1863, pedagogical courses were opened at the Mariinsky Gymnasium, which included a verbal and natural mathematics 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 enter into a fictitious marriage. Vladimir Kovalevsky was chosen as Anna's groom. 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, Sonya. After some time, he was brought into the house and, with the consent of his father, became the groom of the second sister. At that time he was 26, and Sophia was 18 years old.
New stage of life
No one imagined then what tasks Sofya Kovalevskaya would cope with after her wedding. The biography of her husband amazed anyone who met him with its fascination. He began earning money at the age of 16 by translating foreign novels for merchants at Gostiny Dvor. Kovalevsky had an amazing memory, extraordinary activity and humanitarian abilities. He categorically refused bureaucratic service, choosing instead publishing work in St. Petersburg. It was he who printed and translated literature, which was extremely in demand by the leading people of the country. Having moved with her husband and sister to St. Petersburg, Sofya Kovalevskaya secretly began to attend lectures. She decided to devote all her strength only to science. The only thing Sofya Kovalevskaya wanted to do was mathematics. Having passed the exam and received a certificate of maturity, she again returned to Strannolyubsky. With him, she began to study science in depth, planning to subsequently continue her work abroad.
Education
At the beginning of April 1869, Sofya Kovalevskaya, her sister and husband left for Vienna. There were geologists needed by Vladimir Onufrievich at that time. However, there were no strong scientists in Vienna. Therefore, Kovalevskaya decides to go to Heidelberg. In her mind it was promised land for students. After overcoming a number of difficulties, the commission finally allowed Sophia to listen to lectures on physics and mathematics. For three semesters she took a course from Koenigsberger, who taught the theory of elliptic functions. In addition, she attended lectures on physics and mathematics by Kirchhoff, Helmholtz, Dubois Reymond, and worked in the laboratory under the guidance of the chemist Bunsen. All these people were then in Germany. The teachers were amazed at the abilities that Kovalevskaya possessed. Sofya Vasilievna worked very hard. She quickly mastered all the initial elements, which allowed her to begin independent research. She received rave reviews about herself from Koenigsberger to his teacher, the greatest scientist of that time, Karl Weierstrass. The latter was called by his contemporaries "the great analyst."
Working with Weierstrass
Sofya Kovalevskaya, in the name of her chosen higher destiny, overcame fear and shyness and in early October 1870 headed to Berlin. Professor Weierstrass was not in the mood for conversation and, in order to get rid of the visitor, gave her several problems in the field of hyperbolic functions, inviting her back a week later. Having managed to forget about the visit, the scientist did not expect to see Kovalevskaya at the appointed time. She appeared on the threshold and announced that all problems had been solved. After a while, Weierstrass petitioned for Kovalevskaya to be allowed to attend mathematical lectures. However, the consent of the high council could not be achieved. The University of Berlin not only did not enroll women as students. They were not even allowed to attend lectures as free listeners. Therefore, Kovalevskaya had to limit herself to private lessons with Weierstrass. As contemporaries noted, the outstanding scientist usually overwhelmed his listeners with mental superiority. But Kovalevskaya’s inquisitiveness and thirst for knowledge required increased activity from Weierstrass. He himself often had to solve various problems in order to adequately answer the rather complex questions of his student. Contemporaries noted that one should be grateful to Kovalevskaya for being able to bring Weierstrass out of his isolation.
First independent work
It explored the question of the balance of Saturn's ring. Before Kovalevskaya, Laplace (French astronomer, physicist and mathematician) worked on this problem. In his work, he considered the ring of Saturn as a complex of several thin elements that do not influence each other. During his research, he found that in cross section it is presented in the shape of an ellipse. However, this solution was only the first and very simplified. Kovalevskaya began research to more accurately establish the balance of the ring. She determined that in cross section one should be presented in the shape of an oval.
Thesis
From the beginning of the winter of 1873 to the spring of 1874, Kovalevskaya was engaged in the study of partial derivatives. She intended to present the work in the form of a doctoral dissertation. Her work was admired in scientific circles. A little later, however, it was found that a similar study had already been carried out by Augustin Cauchy, an outstanding French scientist. But in her work, Kovalevskaya gave the theorem a form that was perfect in its simplicity, rigor and accuracy. Therefore, the problem began to be called the “Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem.” It is included in all basic analysis courses. Of particular interest was the analysis of the heat equation. In her study, Kovalevskaya revealed the existence special occasions. This was a significant discovery for that time. This marked the end of her apprenticeship. The Council of the University of Göttingen awarded her the degree of Doctor of Mathematical Philosophy and Master of Fine Arts "with the highest praise."
Relationship with husband
In 1874, Sofya Kovalevskaya came back to Russia. However, at that time there were terrible conditions in her homeland, which could not allow her to do science the way she wanted. By that time, the fictitious marriage with her husband had become real. During their first stay in Germany, they lived in different cities and received education in different institutions. Communication with my husband was carried out through letters. However, subsequently the relationship took a different form. In 1878, the Kovalevskys had a daughter. After her birth, Sophia spent about six months in bed. Doctors no longer hoped for recovery. The body still won, but the heart was struck by a serious disease.
Family collapse
Kovalevskaya had a husband, a child, favorite hobby. It would seem that this should be enough for complete happiness. But Kovalevskaya was characterized by maximalism in everything. She constantly made high demands on life and on everyone around her. She wanted to constantly hear vows of love from her husband, she wanted him to show her signs of attention all the time. But Kovalevsky did not do this. He was a different person, just as passionate about science as his wife. The complete collapse of the relationship came when they decided to go into business. However, despite this, Kovalevskaya remained faithful to science. But in Russia she could not continue working. After the assassination of the king, the situation in the country deteriorated sharply. Sophia and her daughter went to Berlin, and her husband went to Odessa, to visit his brother. However, Vladimir Onufrievich became very confused in his commercial affairs and on the night of April 15-16, 1883, he shot himself. Kovalevskaya was in Paris when she received this news. After the funeral, returning to Berlin, she headed to Weierstrass.
Stockholm University
Weierstrass, having learned about the death of Kovalevskaya’s husband, who always interfered with Sophia’s plans to make science the goal of her life, wrote to Mitgag-Leffler, his colleague. In the letter, he said that now nothing prevents him from giving the student the opportunity to continue her activities. Soon Weierstrass was able to please Kovalevskaya with a positive response from Sweden. On January 30, 1884, she gave her first lecture. The course that Kovalevskaya taught in German was of a private nature. Nevertheless, he gave her an excellent recommendation. At the end of June 1884, she received news that she had been appointed to the position of professor for 5 years.
New work
The woman professor delved deeper and deeper into research work. Now she was studying one of the the most complex tasks concerning the rotation of a rigid body. She believed that if she could solve it, then her name would be included among the most outstanding world scientists. According to her calculations, it would take another 5 years to complete the task.
Writing activity
In the spring of 1886, Sofya Vasilievna received news of her sister’s serious condition. She went home. Kovalevskaya returned to Stockholm with difficult feelings. In this state, she could not continue her research. However, she found a way to talk about her feelings, about herself, her thoughts. Literary work came second important matter, which was handled by Sofia Kovalevskaya. The book she was writing at that time with Anna-Charlotte Edgren-Leffler captured her so much that she did not return to research during this entire time.
Historical discovery
Having recovered from the shock, Kovalevskaya returns to scientific activity. She is trying to solve the problem of the rotation of a rigid heavy body around a static point. The problem is reduced to the integration of a system of equations that always has three definite integrals. The problem is completely solved when the fourth one is found. Before the discovery of Kovalevskaya, it was found twice. 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 enough complex look. Perfect knowledge of hyperelliptic functions helped to successfully cope with the task. And currently 4 algebraic integrals exist only in three cases: Lagrange, Euler and Kovalevskaya.
Borden Prize
In 1888, on December 6, the Paris Academy sent a letter to Kovalevskaya. It said that she had been awarded the Borden Prize. It should be said that in the half century since its establishment, only 10 people have become its owners. Moreover, all these ten times it was not awarded in full, but for individual, private decisions. Before Kovalevskaya's opening, no one had been awarded this prize for three years in a row. A week after receiving the news, she arrived in Paris. Academy President Zhansen, an astronomer and physicist, warmly welcomed Sofya Vasilievna. He said that due to the seriousness of her research, the bonus was increased from 3 to 5 thousand francs.
Swedish Academy Award
After receiving the Borden Prize, Kovalevskaya settled near Paris. Here she continued her research on the rotation of bodies for the competition for the King Oscar II award from the Swedish Academy. In the fall, at the start of the university semester, she returned to Stockholm. The work went very quickly. Kovalevskaya wanted to complete the research in time to present the work at the competition. For her work she received a bonus of one and a half thousand crowns.
Attempt to return to Russia
Despite the successes, Kovalevskaya was not happy about anything. She went to treatment but did not complete it. After a short period of time, her health deteriorated again. In this state, Kovalevskaya could not continue her research and again turned to literature. She tried to drown out her longing for Russia with stories about people and her Motherland. It was extremely unbearable for her to be in a foreign land. But, despite the stunning success, she did not have a chance to take a place in domestic universities. Hope appeared 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 home. Kovalevskaya hoped that she would be elected a member of the academy instead of the deceased Bunyakovsky. In this way, she could gain financial independence, which would facilitate the continuation of research in her country.
last years of life
In St. Petersburg, Kovalevskaya visited the President of the Russian Academy several times. Konstantinovich was always polite and kind to her, saying that it would be wonderful 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, since it was “not in customs.” They could not have insulted her more in Russia. In September, Kovalevskaya came back to Stockholm. On January 29, 1891, she died at the age of 41 from heart palsy.
Conclusion
Kovalevskaya was an outstanding person. She was extremely demanding of everything that surrounded her. This is not an ordinary Russian mathematician and mechanic, this is a great scientist who devoted all his strength to science. It is sad to realize that in Russia at that time she was not given due attention, her merits were not recognized, despite her high popularity in scientific circles abroad. Not far from Velikiye Luki there is a museum of Sofia Kovalevskaya. Polibino was hers small homeland, the place where her passion for science manifested itself.
Kovalevskaya Sofya Vasilievna (nee Korvin-Krukovskaya) (1850-1891), mathematician.
Born on January 15, 1850 in Moscow in the family of an artillery general. When Sophia was six years old, her father retired and settled on the family estate of Palibino, Vitebsk province.
A teacher was hired for the girl's classes. The only subject in which the future scientist showed neither special interest nor ability in the first classes was arithmetic. However, gradually she developed serious abilities for mathematics.
In 1868, Sofya Vasilievna married V. O. Kovalevsky, and the newlyweds went abroad. For two years she attended lectures in mathematics at the University of Heidelberg (Germany).
In 1874, the University of Göttingen, after defending her dissertation, awarded her a doctorate.
In 1881, Kovalevskaya was elected a member of the Moscow Mathematical Society. After the death of her husband, she moved with her daughter to Stockholm (1884) and received the chair of mathematics at Stockholm University, with the obligation to lecture in German for the first year, and in Swedish from the second.
Kovalevskaya quickly mastered the Swedish language and published her mathematical works in it.
In 1888, the Paris Academy of Sciences awarded her a prize for her research into the rotation of a rigid body around a fixed point.
In 1889, for two essays related to previous work, Kovalevskaya received the Stockholm Academy Prize and became a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
In April 1890, Sofya Vasilievna returned to Russia in the hope that she would be elected as a member of the academy in place of the mathematician V. Ya. Bunyakovsky, who died in 1889, and that she would gain financial independence, which would allow her to engage in science in her homeland. But when Kovalevskaya wished, as a corresponding member, to attend the scientific meetings, she was told that the participation of women in them was “not in the customs of the Academy.”
In September she went to Stockholm again.
On January 15, 1850, in Moscow, a girl, Sophia, later Kovalevskaya, was born into the wealthy family of Vasily Korvin-Krukovsky and Elizaveta Schubert.
Her father served as a lieutenant general. When Sophia was six years old, he retired. The family moved to the Vitebsk province to the family estate Palibino.
A visiting teacher taught little Sophia. The girl was very capable and showed high results in all sciences. But arithmetic was not only a difficult subject for the girl, but also completely unloved. On my mother's side, my grandfather was a famous mathematician, and my great-grandfather was the greatest astronomer. Hereditary predisposition predetermined her future fate.
At the age of sixteen, Kovalevskaya, living in St. Petersburg, took lessons mathematical analysis. She was more and more drawn to knowledge, to scientific activity, but her father was a despotic man and constantly limited his daughter. He believed that the main purpose of a woman is limited to arranging home comfort. In order to escape from under the oppressive views of her father, at eighteen Sofya marries O.V. Kovalevsky, and the young family leaves for Germany.
Abroad, as well as in Russia, mass education of women was not welcomed. But her abilities amazed Karl Weierstrass. He assigned Kovalevskaya obviously impossible tasks, which she completed very successfully. For two years at Heidelberg University, Sofya Vasilievna attended lectures. At the age of twenty-four, Kovalevskaya defended her dissertation and was awarded doctor degree. Three years later she moves to Sweden. Heading the Department of Mathematics at the University of Stockholm, he lectures. During the first year of her teaching career, lectures were given in German, only then in Swedish. Kovalevskaya very quickly mastered and fell in love with the Swedish language; many of her writings were written in it. scientific works. For her achievements in scientific work, in 1888 she was awarded the Prize of the Academy of Sciences in Paris.
In 1889, Kovalevskaya was accepted as a member of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. Sofya Vasilyevna really wanted to teach in her homeland, but the academy made it clear that “women have no place here.”
She was forced to leave for Sweden again. Sofya Kovalevskaya was recognized in European scientist society as an authoritative teacher and scientist. Russia did not need a woman scientist; her homeland did not want to recognize her outstanding talent in science.
In February 1891, Sofya Vasilievna Kovalevskaya caught a bad cold and got pneumonia; doctors were unable to save her.
Biography 2
Sofya Vasilievna Korvin-Krukovskaya was born on January 15, 1850 in Moscow. Father Vasily Vasilyevich general - lieutenant of artillery troops, mother Elizaveta Schubert, had two more children - son Fedor and daughter Anna. The girl spent her childhood in the Vitebsk province, on the family estate of Polibino.
Receiving at home elementary education, the girl showed amazing abilities in studying all subjects, especially mathematics. What brought her teacher Joseph Malevich into indescribable delight. All the walls of her room were completely accidentally covered with lectures by mathematics professor Ostrogradsky.
Professor Tyrtov, who came to visit Sophia’s father, once suggested to his friend that he give his daughter a good education, to which he received a categorical answer - for this you need to go abroad - in Russia the road to university was closed for women.
Education
At the age of 16, he comes to the northern capital, where he goes to study with Alexander Nikolaevich Strannolyubsky. In 1888, Sophia was given permission to audition in military medical academy course of lectures by Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov.
Trying to escape parental care and continue her education outside of Russia, the girl decides to enter into a fictitious marriage with Vladimir Kovalevsky.
Young married couple went to Germany - Heidelberg University was located near Konigsberg.
In 1870, the Kovalevskys moved to Berlin. Four years later, Sofya Kovalevskaya became a Doctor of Philosophy. Arriving in Russia in 1880 to use her talent, she ran into a blank wall of prohibitions.
Job
An invitation from Stockholm University saves me from hopelessness. It was here that Sofya Vasilievna made the most important scientific discoveries.
Awards
The scientific works of Sofia Kovalevskaya were duly recognized - she became the world's first professor of mathematics. Received an award in Paris for competition work. She was awarded the title of professor at Stockholm University for life.
Personal life
The fictitious marriage that took place in 1868 turned out to be real - in 1878, the Kovalevsky couple had a daughter, Sophia.
Vladimir Kovalevsky, who was engaged in business, went bankrupt. Finding no other way out, he committed suicide.
Death
Not found in Once again self-use in her homeland, Sofya Vasilievna leaves back to Stockholm. On the way from Berlin, he learns about the outbreak of a smallpox epidemic in Denmark. Changing his route, in the absence of a closed carriage, he gets into an open one. He catches a very bad cold, resulting in pneumonia. Medicine turned out to be powerless. She died on February 10, 1891 at the age of 41.
(1850-1891) Russian mathematician, first woman - corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya was born into the family of General Vasily Vasilyevich Krukovsky and Elizaveta Fedorovna Schubert, who received European education: she knew four languages, classic literature, played the piano. At home they liked to say that the blood of the Hungarian king Matthew Corvinus flowed in their veins. The king's daughter became interested in the Polish knight Krukovsky, and the Korvin-Krukovskys appeared in Lithuania. In 1858, Major General Vasily Vasilyevich Korvin-Krukovsky was awarded the rank of nobility.
Why does the girl have early age have an interest in mathematics? Sofya Vasilyevna recalled: “When we moved to live in the village, the whole house had to be redecorated and all the rooms covered with new wallpaper. There were many rooms, and there wasn’t enough wallpaper for one of our children’s rooms; It was absolutely not worth ordering wallpaper from St. Petersburg for one room.
This abused room remained for many years with one wall covered with plain paper. By a lucky coincidence, it was precisely the sheets of lithographed lectures by Mikhail Vasilyevich Ostrogradsky on differential and integral calculus, acquired by my father in his youth, that were used for this purpose. These sheets, covered with strange, incomprehensible formulas, soon attracted my attention. I remember how, as a child, I spent whole hours in front of this mysterious wall, trying to make out at least individual phrases and find the order in which the sheets were supposed to follow each other. From long, daily contemplation, the appearance of many of the formulas was engraved in my memory, and the text itself left a deep imprint on my brain, although at the very moment of reading it remained incomprehensible to me.”
Sophia’s older sister Anyuta, who later became a writer, was proud that her story “The Dream” was published by F.M. Dostoevsky in his journal.
Professor Nikolai Nikonovich Tyrtov convinced his friend, General Korvin-Krukovsky, that Sophia needed to study higher mathematics, and recommended his student Alexander Strannolyubsky as a teacher.
Fleet lieutenant, student at the Naval Academy, and then a brilliant teacher at the maritime school, where he worked for 30 years. It was from him that the outstanding shipbuilder Alexei Nikolaevich Krylov studied. “Alexander Nikolaevich,” said Sofya Vasilievna, “was very surprised at how quickly I grasped and internalized the concepts of limit and derivative, “as if I knew them in advance,” that’s exactly how he put it. And the thing really was that at that minute when he explained these concepts to me, I suddenly vividly remembered that all this was on Ostrogradsky’s sheets that I remembered, and the very concept of the limit seemed familiar to me for a long time.”
Free yourself from parental care and get an education in the West (in Russia women were not accepted into higher education educational establishments) was possible only by entering into a fictitious marriage. Then Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky appeared. He was a prominent biologist. His works were known in Russia and abroad, he actively corresponded with Darwin, the latter knew the works of Kovalevsky and was friends with him. Vladimir Onufrievich wrote to his brother: “Despite her eighteen years, the sparrow is excellently educated, knows all languages as if she were her own, and is still mainly engaged in mathematics, and is already studying spherical trigonometry and integrals - she works like an ant from morning to morning.” nights and at the same time alive, sweet and very pretty. In general, such happiness fell on me that it’s hard to imagine.” So, ahead is abroad, the university in Heidelberg, but for now the Kovalevskys are in St. Petersburg. They attend Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov's lectures on physiology and Gruber's lectures at the Medical-Surgical Academy.
And yet you need to go abroad. And here are the Kovalevskys in Vienna. Anyuta came with them. But Sofia Vasilievna’s path lies in Small town Heidelberg, to the famous German university, where she arrived in 1869. The news of the extraordinary abilities of the Russian student spread around little Heidelberg. The life of Sofia Vasilievna in Heidelberg is known from the memoirs of Yu.V. Lermontova, whose father was the second cousin of the great poet. Julia wrote: “All the professors with whom Sonya studied were delighted with her abilities; At the same time, she was very hardworking, she could spend hours at a time, without leaving her desk, doing math calculations.”
A fictitious marriage with Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky turned into a real one, and friendship turned into love. But Kovalevsky has a restless character, he is possessed by a desire to change places. Sofya Vasilievna also has to get used to traveling and hotels. First to London, where Vladimir Onufrievich met with Charles Darwin, from there to Paris, and finally to cozy Heidelberg, which had become his home, to the university. After a course of lectures on mathematics, Leo Koenigsberger, a student of the famous Weierstrass, had to go to Berlin.
Leo Koenigsberger's recommendation had an effect on the fifty-five-year-old professor, but this was clearly not enough for the university council. Karl Weierstrass began studying with Kovalevskaya at home. She became his favorite student. Despite the age difference, they became close friends. Weierstrass set more and more difficult challenges for his talented student. math problems. Sofia Vasilievna’s successes amazed even her famous teacher. It was time to think about defending my doctoral dissertation. A defense took place at the University of Göttingen at the Faculty of Philosophy. Weierstrass writes to Göttingen that three mathematical problems were solved by Sofia Vasilievna Kovalevskaya: the first was about partial differential equations, the second was related to elliptic integrals, and the third problem concerned the famous Pierre Laplace's research on the rings of Saturn. The assessment of the work was the highest. Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in absentia. Five years of hard work, study, and research are behind us. Now home, to my homeland.
Sophia was congratulated by her relatives, the future seemed cloudless: university, teaching career.
Is it true, Russian laws allowed a woman to teach mathematics only in elementary gymnasium classes.
After a holiday in the village of Palibino, the Kovalevskys arrived in St. Petersburg, among their acquaintances were Sechenov and Mendeleev, Chebyshev and Turgenev and, of course, Dostoevsky. In 1875, Vasily Vasilyevich Korvin-Krukovsky died. He left an inheritance to his children, nevertheless, financial difficulties haunt Vladimir Onufrievich. He was a talented scientist, but a lousy businessman. His commercial projects failed. Meanwhile, the Kovalevsky family is expecting an addition. Sophia is expecting a child, and mathematics fades into the background. A daughter was born, who was also named Sophia.
Vladimir Onufrievich is making desperate attempts to somehow stabilize the family’s financial situation: he is building houses and public baths on Vasilyevsky Island, but in the end the houses and bathhouses built did not bring in any income. Creditors describe houses and property, the Kovalevskys decide to leave St. Petersburg for Moscow. Vladimir Onufrievich was offered a good position in a commercial company; on business he often needs to go abroad, which is very attractive to him, as it gives him the opportunity to meet fellow scientists; finally, he is invited to Moscow University to give lectures on geology and paleontology. Vladimir Onufrievich begins to lecture at Moscow University and at the same time does not want to give up his work in society. These cases, the essence of which is attempts to get rich at any cost, through speculation, combinations and deception, could not help but end in disaster. Completely bankrupt, Vladimir Onufrievich committed suicide by putting a mask on his face and inhaling chloroform.
The news of her husband's death found Sofya Kovalevskaya in Paris and completely overwhelmed her. She spent four days without food, and on the fifth day she lost consciousness. When the doctor and friends were able to help her, then, opening her eyes, Sophia asked for a pencil and paper and began to write down the formulas. The return to the world of mathematics of 33-year-old Kovalevskaya took place.
In August 1883, the VII Congress of Russian naturalists and doctors took place in Odessa. Kovalevskaya was among those invited; she gave a report “On the refraction of light in crystals,” which was recognized as one of the best. From Odessa Sofya Vasilyevna writes to a Swedish mathematician, her great friend G. Mittag-Leffler, who played a big role in Kovalevskaya’s life. He was a devoted and sincere friend until the end of her days; it is to him that we owe the fact that all correspondence with Kovalevskaya is stored in his archive at the mathematical institute in Sweden, which bears his name. She thanks Stockholm University for the invitation to give a course of lectures there.
“The princess of science has arrived in our city,” wrote the Stockholm newspapers. During the two months that Sofya Vasilievna lived with the hospitable Mittag-Lefflers, she made many friends in Swedish society; everyone wanted to take part in her fate and help her. The first lecture, the second, the students applauded her, presented her with flowers, and admired her. Through the efforts of Mittag-Leffler and Kovalevskaya, a strong mathematical school was created at the university. In addition, Mittag-Leffler attracted the best mathematicians in Europe and created the journal Acta Mathematica, which included Sofia Kovalevskaya on the editorial board. Her teaching achievements allowed the board of Stockholm University to award her the title of professor.
In the new academic year Professor Sofya Kovalevskaya is already giving lectures in Swedish. She is widely known, leads literary activity. Friendship with G. Mittag-Leffler's sister, writer Anna-Charlotte Edgren Leffler, created an extraordinary duo of writers: their joint plays appeared.
Sofya Vasilievna is actively involved in science. In 1888, she wrote the work “The Problem of the Rotation of a Rigid Body Around a Fixed Point,” which won her a prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences. In Paris, she met with the greatest mathematicians of the time, Hermite, Bertrand, Poincaré and Darboux. The following year, for a second paper on the same topic, she was awarded a prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Kovalevsky appears in Sofia Vasilievna’s personal life. Namesake. Maxim Maksimovich Kovalevsky, a rich, gifted professor at Moscow University, fired for freethinking statements, becomes her closest friend. Sofya Vasilievna works a lot, does not spare herself, sleeps 4-5 hours a day. This leads to nervous fatigue. IN last years this is a very sick person. Therefore, she, together with M.M. Kovalevsky commits big Adventure in Germany, Switzerland and Italy, which she was simply fascinated by.
The year 1889 was a milestone life path famous mathematician: general meeting Petersburg Academy of Sciences approved S.V. Kovalevskaya as a corresponding member. Her candidacy was nominated by the remarkable Russian scientists P. Chebyshev, V. Imshenetsky, V. Bunyakovsky.
One cannot fail to mention the literary gift of Sofia Kovalevskaya. Her creative heritage speaks of the great talent of the writer. Kovalevskaya’s language is bright and figurative, full of poetic colors, her observations are accurate and witty, her imagination and fantasy are inexhaustible.
At the end of January 1891, Kovalevskaya returned from Genoa to Stockholm. Wet snow, piercing wind, and cold air met her here. A severe cold sapped her strength in a matter of days. On February 10, 1891, at the 42nd year of her life, the great Russian mathematician Sofya Vasilievna Kovalevskaya died in Stockholm at the zenith of her creativity.
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