Sofia Kovalevskaya
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Sofia Kovalevskaya was a Russian mathematician of the 19th century who made significant contributions to mathematics during a time when women had very limited access to higher education. Her work and life are historically important because she demonstrated that women could excel in advanced mathematics and helped pave the way for greater opportunities for female scientists and scholars.
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Sofya Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (Russian: Софья Васильевна Ковалевская; born Korvin-Krukovskaya; 15 January [O.S. 3 January] 1850 – 10 February 1891) 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".
Historian of mathematics Roger Cooke writes:
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1850 births1891 deaths19th-century mathematicians from the Russian Empire19th-century novelists from the Russian Empire19th-century women mathematicians19th-century women scientists from the Russian Empire19th-century women writers from the Russian EmpireBurials at Norra begravningsplatsenCorresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of SciencesDeaths from pneumonia in SwedenEmigrants from the Russian Empire to Sweden