Sofia Kovalevskaya short biography. Sophia Kovalevskaya - report message. Three languages ​​for literature and mathematics

Kovalevskaya Sofia Vasilievna was born on January 3, 1850 in Moscow. Her mother was Elisabeth Schubert. Father, General of Artillery Korvin-Krukovsky, at the time of the birth of his daughter, served as head of the arsenal. When the girl was six, he retired, settling in the family estate. Let us consider further, thanks to which Sofia 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 a teacher. The only subject in which the future professor of mathematics showed neither special interest nor any abilities was arithmetic. However, over time, the situation has changed dramatically. The study of arithmetic lasted up to 10 and a half years. Subsequently, Sofia Kovalevskaya believed that it was this period that gave her the basis of all knowledge. The girl studied the subject very well and quickly solved all the problems. Before starting algebra, her teacher Malevich 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 successes, recommended her father to hire a lieutenant of the fleet Strannolyubsky to continue her education. The new teacher at the first lesson was surprised at the speed with which Sonya learned the limit.

Fictitious marriage

In 1863, pedagogical courses were opened at the Mariinsky Gymnasium, which included the verbal and natural-mathematical departments. 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 fiancé. 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 introduced into the house and became, with the consent of his father, the bridegroom of the second sister. At that time he was 26, and Sophia was 18 years old.

New life stage

No one then imagined what tasks Sofya Kovalevskaya would cope with after her wedding. The biography of her husband amazed with its fascination anyone who met him. He began to earn money at the age of 16, making translations of foreign novels for the merchants of Gostiny Dvor. Kovalevsky had an amazing memory, extraordinary activity and humanitarian abilities. He categorically refused official service, choosing publishing in St. Petersburg instead. It was he who printed and translated literature, which was extremely in demand by the progressive people of the country. Having moved with her husband and sister to St. Petersburg, Sofya Kovalevskaya secretly began to attend lectures. She decided to give all her strength only to science. The only thing that Sofia Kovalevskaya wanted to do was mathematics. Having passed the exam and received a matriculation certificate, she again returned to Strannolyubsky. With him, she began to study science in depth, planning to subsequently continue her activities abroad.

Education

In early April 1869, Sophia Kovalevskaya with her sister and husband left for Vienna. There were geologists needed then by Vladimir Onufrievich. However, there were no strong scientists in Vienna. Therefore, Kovalevskaya decides to go to Heidelberg. In her mind, it was the promised land for students. After overcoming a number of difficulties, the commission nevertheless allowed Sophia to listen to lectures on 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 by Kirchhoff, Helmholtz, Dubois Reymond, 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. Sofia Vasilievna worked very hard. She quickly enough mastered all the initial elements that allowed her to start 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 contemporaries "the great analyst".

Working with Weierstrass

Sofya Kovalevskaya, in the name of her chosen higher destiny, overcame fear and shyness, and at the beginning of October 1870 went to Berlin. Professor Weierstrass was not in the mood for a conversation and, in order to get rid of the visitor, gave her several problems from the field of hyperbolic functions, inviting her in a week. 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 tasks had been solved. After a while, Weierstrass petitioned for Kovalevskaya to be allowed to listen to mathematical lectures. However, the consent of the high council could not be achieved. At the University of Berlin, not only did they not enroll women as students. They were not even allowed to attend lectures as free listeners. Therefore, Kovalevskaya had to confine herself to private studies with Weierstrass. As contemporaries noted, an outstanding scientist usually overwhelmed his listeners with mental superiority. But the inquisitiveness and craving for knowledge of Kovalevskaya demanded from Weierstrass increased activity. He himself often had to solve various problems in order to adequately answer the rather difficult 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.

First independent work

It explored the question of the balance of the ring of Saturn. Prior to Kovalevskaya, Laplace (a French astronomer, physicist and mathematician) dealt with this problem. In his work, he considered the ring of Saturn as a complex of several subtle elements that do not affect each other. In the course of research, he found that in cross section it is presented in the form of an ellipse. However, this solution was only the first and very simplified. Kovalevskaya set about research to more accurately establish the balance of the ring. She determined that in cross section one should be presented in the form 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 Augustin Cauchy, an outstanding French scientist, had already carried out a similar study. But in her work, Kovalevskaya gave the theorem a form that is perfect in its simplicity, rigor, and accuracy. Therefore, the problem began to be called the "Koshi-Kovalevskaya theorem". It is included in all basic analysis courses. Of particular interest was the analysis of the heat equation. In the study, Kovalevskaya revealed the existence of special cases. It 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 Sophia Kovalevskaya came back to Russia. However, at that time there were terrible conditions in her homeland, which could not in any way allow her to do science the way she wanted. By that time, a fictitious marriage with her husband had become real. The first time they were in Germany, they lived in different cities, received education in different institutions. Communication with her husband was carried out through letters. However, the relationship subsequently 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 a recovery. The body still won, but the heart was struck by a serious illness.

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 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. He was a different person, just as passionate about science as his wife. A complete collapse in the relationship came when they decided to do business. However, despite this, Kovalevskaya remained faithful to science. But in Russia, she could not continue to work. 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 her 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 the news. After the funeral, returning to Berlin, she went to Weierstrass.

Stockholm University

Weierstrass, having learned about the death of her husband Kovalevskaya, who had always interfered with Sophia's plans to make science the goal of her whole life, wrote to Mitgag-Leffler, his colleague. In the letter, he said that now nothing prevents the student from being able 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 made her an excellent recommendation. At the end of June 1884, she received the news that she had been appointed to the position of professor for 5 years.

New labor

More and more, the female professor went deeper into research work. Now she was studying one of the most difficult problems regarding the rotation of a rigid body. She believed that if she could solve it, then her name would be included among the most prominent scientists in the world. According to her calculations, it took another 5 years to complete the task.

Writing activity

In the spring of 1886, Sofya Vasilievna received news of her sister's grave condition. She went home. Kovalevskaya returned to Stockholm with heavy 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 became the second important thing that Sofia Kovalevskaya was engaged in. The book she was writing at the time with Anna-Charlotte Edgren-Lefler so captivated her that she did not return to research during all this time.

Historic discovery

Having recovered from the shocks, Kovalevskaya again 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 integrating a system of equations that always has three definite integrals. The problem is completely solved when the fourth one can be 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 was rather complicated. 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 Award

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 inception, only 10 people have become its owners. Moreover, all these ten times it was not awarded in full, but for separate, private decisions. Prior to the opening of Kovalevskaya, no one had been awarded this prize for three years in a row. A week after receiving the news, she arrived in Paris. The President of the Academy Jansen, an astronomer and physicist, warmly welcomed Sofya Vasilievna. He said that in view of the seriousness of her research, the prize had been increased from 3,000 to 5,000 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 autumn, at the beginning of the semester at the university, she returned to Stockholm. The work went very quickly. Kovalevskaya wanted to have time to complete her research in order to submit her work to the competition. For her work, she received a prize of one and a half thousand crowns.

Attempt to return to Russia

Despite the successes, Kovalevskaya was not pleased with anything. She went to treatment, but did not finish it. After a short period of time, her health deteriorated again. In this state, Kovalevskaya could not continue her research and again turned to the literature. She tried to drown out her longing for Russia with stories about people and her homeland. It was extremely unbearable for her to be in a foreign land. But, despite the overwhelming 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. Thus, she could acquire material independence, which would contribute to 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 courteous and kind to her, saying that it would be great 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 customary." She could not have been more insulted 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, 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 is the Museum of Sofia Kovalevskaya. Polibino was her small homeland, the place where her craving for science manifested itself.

Date of Birth:

Place of Birth:

Moscow, Russian Empire

Date of death:

A place of death:

Stockholm, Sweden

Scientific area:

Mathematics, mechanics

Place of work:

Stockholm University

Alma mater:

Eidelberg University, Berlin University

Scientific adviser:

K. T. W. Weierstrass

Known as:

The world's first female professor of mathematics

Scientific activity

Literary activity

Printed publications

(nee Korvin-Krukovskaya) (January 3 (15), 1850, Moscow - January 29 (February 10), 1891, Stockholm) - Russian mathematician and mechanic, since 1889 a foreign corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. The first female professor in Russia and Northern Europe and the first female professor of mathematics in the world (Maria Agnesi, who previously received this title, never taught).

Biography

Daughter of Lieutenant General of Artillery V. V. Korvin-Krukovsky and Elizaveta Fedorovna (maiden name - Schubert). Grandfather Kovalevskaya, Infantry General F.F. Schubert, was an outstanding mathematician, and great-grandfather F.I. Schubert was an even more famous astronomer. Born in Moscow in January 1850. Kovalevskaya spent her childhood years on the estate of Polibino's father, Nevelsky district, Vitebsk province (now the village of Polibino, Velikoluksky district, Pskov region). The first lessons, in addition to governesses, were given to Kovalevskaya from the age of eight by a home tutor, the son of a small-scale gentry Iosif Ignatievich Malevich, who placed memories of his student in Russian Antiquity (December 1890). In 1866, Kovalevskaya traveled abroad for the first time, and then lived in St. Petersburg, where she took lessons in mathematical analysis from A. N. Strannolyubsky.

The admission of women to higher educational institutions in Russia was prohibited. Therefore, Kovalevskaya could continue her studies only abroad, but it was possible to issue a foreign passport only with the permission of her parents or husband. The father was not going to give permission, because he did not want to further educate his daughter. Therefore, Sophia organized a fictitious marriage with a young scientist V.O. Kovalevsky. True, Kovalevsky did not suspect that he would eventually fall in love with his fictitious wife.

In 1868, Kovalevskaya married Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky, and the newlyweds went abroad.

In 1869 she studied at the University of Heidelberg with Koenigsberger, and from 1870 to 1874 at the University of Berlin with K. T. W. Weierstrass. Although, according to the rules of the university, she could not listen to lectures as a woman, Weierstrass, interested in her mathematical talents, led her classes.

She sympathized with the revolutionary struggle and the ideas of utopian socialism, so in April 1871, together with her husband V. O. Kovalevsky, she arrived in besieged Paris, cared for the wounded Communards. Later, she took part in the rescue from prison of the leader of the Paris Commune V. Jaclar, the husband of her revolutionary sister Anna.

Sophia's emancipated friends demanded that the fictitious marriage not develop into a real one, and therefore her husband had to move to another apartment, and then to another city altogether. This situation weighed heavily on both, and in the end, in 1874, a fictitious marriage became an actual one.

In 1874, the University of Göttingen awarded Kovalevskaya a Ph.D.

In 1878, a daughter was born to the Kovalevskys.

In 1879 she made a presentation at the VI Congress of Naturalists in St. Petersburg. In 1881 Kovalevskaya was elected a member of the Moscow Mathematical Society (Private Associate Professor).

After her husband's suicide (1883) (tangled in his commercial affairs), Kovalevskaya, left without funds with her five-year-old daughter, arrives in Berlin and stops at Weierstrass. At the cost of enormous efforts, using all his authority and connections, Weierstrass manages to secure a place for her at Stockholm University (1884). Having changed her name to Sonya Kovalevsky, she becomes a professor of mathematics at the University of Stockholm (Högskola), with the obligation to lecture the first year in German, and from the second year in Swedish. Soon Kovalevskaya masters the Swedish language and publishes her mathematical works and fiction in this language.

In 1888 - winner of the Paris Academy of Sciences for the discovery of the third classical case of the solvability of the problem of the rotation of a rigid body around a fixed point. The second work on the same topic in 1889 was awarded the prize of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, and Kovalevskaya was elected a corresponding member of the Physics and Mathematics Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In 1891, on her way from Berlin to Stockholm, Sophia learned that a smallpox epidemic had begun in Denmark. Frightened, she decided to change the route. But apart from an open carriage, there was nothing to continue the journey, and she had to transfer to it. On the way Sophia caught a cold. The cold turned into pneumonia.

On January 29, 1891, Kovalevskaya died at the age of 41 in Stockholm from pneumonia. She died in the Swedish capital all alone, without a single close person nearby. She was buried in Stockholm, at the Northern Cemetery.

Scientific activity

The most important research concerns the theory of rigid body rotation. Kovalevskaya discovered the third classical case of the solvability of the problem of the rotation of a rigid body around a fixed point. This advanced the solution of the problem begun by Leonhard Euler and J. L. Lagrange.

She proved the existence of an analytical (holomorphic) solution of the Cauchy problem for systems of differential equations with partial derivatives, investigated the Laplace problem on the equilibrium of the Saturn ring, obtained a second approximation.

Solved the problem of reducing a certain class of Abelian integrals of the third rank to elliptic integrals. She also worked in the field of potential theory, mathematical physics, celestial mechanics.

In 1889 she received a large prize from the Paris Academy for research on the rotation of a heavy asymmetrical top.

Of the mathematical works of Kovalevskaya, the most famous are: "Zur Theorie der partiellen Differentialgleichungen" (1874, "Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik", volume 80); "Ueber die Reduction einer bestimmten Klasse Abel'scher Integrale 3-ten Ranges auf elliptische Integrale" ("Acta Mathematica", 4); "Zusätze und Bemerkungen zu Laplace's Untersuchung ü ber die Gestalt der Saturnsringe" (1885, "Astronomische Nachrichten", vol. CXI); "Ueber die Brechung des Lichtes in cristallinischen Medien" ("Acta Mathematica" 6.3); "Sur le problème de la rotation d'un corps solide autour d'un point fixe" (1889, Acta Mathematica, 12.2); "Sur une propriété du système d'equations differentielles qui definit la rotation d'un corps solide autour d'un point fix e" (1890, Acta Mathematica, 14.1). Abstracts about mathematical works were written by A. G. Stoletov, N. E. Zhukovsky and P. A. Nekrasov in the Mathematical Collection, vol. XVI, published and separately (Moscow, 1891).

Literary activity

Thanks to her outstanding mathematical talents, Kovalevskaya reached the heights of the scientific field. But the nature is lively and passionate, she did not find satisfaction in abstract mathematical research and manifestations of official glory alone. First of all, a woman, she always craved intimate affection. In this regard, however, fate was not very favorable to her, and it was precisely the years of her greatest glory, when the award of the Paris Prize to a woman drew the attention of the whole world to her, that were for her years of deep spiritual anguish and broken hopes for happiness. Kovalevskaya passionately treated everything that surrounded her, and with subtle observation and thoughtfulness, she had a great ability to artistically reproduce what she saw and felt. Literary talent awakened in her late, and premature death did not allow this new side of a wonderful, deeply and versatilely educated woman to be sufficiently determined. In Russian, from the literary works of K. appeared: “Memories of George Elliot” (“Russian Thought”, 1886, No. 6); family chronicle "Childhood Memories" ("Bulletin of Europe", 1890, No. 7 and 8); “Three days at a peasant university in Sweden” (“Northern Herald”, 1890, No. 12); posthumous poem ("Bulletin of Europe", 1892, No. 2); together with others (translated from the Swedish story “Vae victis”, an excerpt from the novel in the Riviera), these works were published as a separate collection under the title: “Literary Works of S. V. K.” (St. Petersburg, 1893).

Memoirs about the Polish uprising and the novel The Vorontsov Family were written in Swedish, the plot of which refers to the era of unrest among Russian youth in the late 60s of the 19th century. But of particular interest in characterizing Kovalevskaya's personality is "Kampen för Lyckan, tvänne paralleldramer of K. L." (Stockholm, 1887), translated into Russian by M. Luchitskaya, under the title: “The Struggle for Happiness. Two parallel dramas. The work of S. K. and A. K. Leffler ”(Kyiv, 1892). In this double drama, written by Kovalevskaya in collaboration with the Swedish writer Leffler-Edgren, but entirely according to Kovalevskaya's thought, she wanted to depict the fate and development of the same people from two opposite points of view, "how it was" and "how it could be ". Kovalevskaya put a scientific idea at the basis of this work. She was convinced that all the actions and actions of people are predetermined, but at the same time she recognized that there may be such moments in life when various opportunities for certain actions are presented, and then life develops in different ways, in accordance with the which path will be chosen.

Kovalevskaya based her hypothesis on the work of A. Poincaré on differential equations: the integrals of the differential equations considered by Poincare are, from a geometric point of view, continuous curved lines that branch only at some isolated points. The theory shows that the phenomenon flows along a curve to the point of bifurcation (bifurcation), but here everything becomes uncertain and it is impossible to foresee in advance which of the branches the phenomenon will continue to flow (see also Catastrophe theory (mathematics)). According to Leffler (her memoirs of Kovalevskaya in the Kiev Collection to Help Those Affected by Crop Failure, Kyiv, 1892), in the main female figure of this double drama, Alice, Kovalevskaya depicted herself, and many of the phrases uttered by Alice, many of her expressions were taken entirely from the own lips of Kovalevskaya herself. Drama proves the omnipotent power of love, which requires that lovers give themselves completely to each other, but it is everything in life that only gives it brilliance and energy.

Printed publications

  • Kovalevskaya S.V. "Scientific works" - M .: Publishing house of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1948.
  • Kovalevskaya S. V. "Memoirs and letters" - M .: Publishing house of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1951.
  • Kovalevskaya S. V. “Memories. Tales "- M .: Nauka, 1974. - ("Literary monuments")
  • Kovalevskaya S. V. “Memories. Tales" - M.: Pravda Publishing House, 1986.

Family (notable representatives)

  • Great-grandfather - F. I. Schubert, astronomer
  • Grandfather - F. F. Schubert, surveyor, mathematician
  • Father - V. V. Korvin-Krukovsky, General
  • Husband - V. O. Kovalevsky, geologist and paleontologist
  • Sister - Anna Jacquelar, revolutionary and writer
  • Brother - F. V. Korvin-Krukovsky, General

Memory

  • Kovalevskaya (crater)
  • Sofia Kovalevskaya School
  • Kovalevskaya street
  • Sofia Kovalevskaya Street (St. Petersburg)

To the cinema

  • 1956 - "Sofya Kovalevskaya" (film-play, dir. Iosif Shapiro)
  • 1985 - "Sofya Kovalevskaya" (TV film, dir. Ayan Shakhmaliyeva)
  • 2011 - "Dostoevsky" (7-episode TV movie) - Elizaveta Arzamasova

On January 15, 1850, in Moscow, in a wealthy family of Korvin-Krukovsky Vasily and Schubert Elizabeth, a girl Sophia was born, later Kovalevskaya.

Her father served as a lieutenant general. When Sophia was six years old, he retired. The family moved to the Vitebsk province in the Palibino family estate.

A visiting teacher worked with 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 the mother's side, my grandfather was a famous mathematician, and my great-grandfather was the greatest astronomer. Hereditary predisposition and predetermined her future fate.

At the age of sixteen, Kovalevskaya, living in St. Petersburg, took lessons in 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 the arrangement of home comfort. In order to escape from the despotic views of her father, at the age of eighteen, Sophia marries O.V. Kovalevsky, and the young family leaves for Germany.

Abroad, as well as in Russia, the mass education of women was not welcomed. But her abilities amazed Karl Weierstrass. He entrusted Kovalevskaya with obviously impossible tasks, and with which she coped very successfully. For two years, Sofya Vasilievna attended lectures at Heidelberg University. At the age of twenty-four, Kovalevskaya defended her dissertation and was awarded a doctorate. Three years later, she moves to Sweden. Leading the Department of Mathematics at the University of Stockholm, he lectures. During the first year of her teaching career, lectures were held in German, only then in Swedish. Kovalevskaya quickly mastered and fell in love with the Swedish language; many of her scientific works were written in it. For achievements in scientific activity 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 Vasilievna really wanted to teach at home, but the academy made it clear that "women do not belong here."

She was forced to go to Sweden again. Sofya Kovalevskaya was recognized in the European Scientific 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, Kovalevskaya Sofya Vasilievna caught a bad cold and got pneumonia, the doctors could not save her.

Biography 2

Sofia Vasilievna Korvin-Krukovskaya was born on January 15, 1850 in Moscow. Father Vasily Vasilyevich, lieutenant general of artillery troops, mother Elizabeth Schubert, had two more children - son Fedor and daughter Anna. The girl's childhood passed in the Vitebsk province, Polibino's family estate.

Receiving primary education at home, 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 quite accidentally pasted over with lectures by professor of mathematics Ostrogradsky.

Professor Tyrtov, who visited Sophia's father, somehow 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 the 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 listen to a course of lectures by Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov at the military medical academy.

Trying to get away from parental care and continue her education outside of Russia, the girl decides to enter into a fictitious marriage with Vladimir Kovalevsky.

A young married couple went to Germany - Heidelberg University was located near Königsberg.

In 1870 the Kovalevskys moved to Berlin. Four years later, Sofia Kovalevskaya became a doctor of philosophy. Arriving in Russia in 1880 to apply her talent, she comes across a blank wall of prohibitions.

Work

Rescued from hopelessness by an invitation from Stockholm University. It was here that Sofya Vasilievna made the most important scientific discoveries.

Awards

The scientific works of Sofia Kovalevskaya were recognized at their true worth - she became the world's first professor of mathematics. Received an award in Paris for competitive work. She was given the title of professor at Stockholm University for life.

Personal life

The fictitious marriage that took place in 1868, in fact, turned out to be the real one - in 1878, a daughter, Sophia, was born to the Kovalevsky couple.

Vladimir Kovalevsky, who was engaged in business, went bankrupt. Finding no other way out, he committed suicide.

Death

Having once again found no use for herself in her homeland, Sofya Vasilyevna leaves back for Stockholm. On the way from Berlin, he learns of an outbreak of smallpox in Denmark. Changing his route, for lack of a closed crew, sits in an open one. He has a very severe cold, resulting in pneumonia. Medicine was powerless. She died on February 10, 1891 at the age of 41.

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  • Kovalevskaya Sofia Vasilievna (nee Korvin-Krukovskaya) (1850-1891), mathematician.

    She was 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 in the family estate of Palibino, Vitebsk province.

    The girl was hired by a teacher for classes. The only subject in which the future scientist showed neither special interest nor abilities in the first lessons was arithmetic. However, she gradually developed a serious ability in mathematics.

    In 1868, Sofia 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 a chair of mathematics at the University of Stockholm, with the obligation to lecture the first year in German, and from the second - in Swedish.

    Kovalevskaya quickly mastered the Swedish language and published her mathematical work in it.

    In 1888, the Paris Academy of Sciences awarded her a prize for research on the rotation of a rigid body around a fixed point.

    In 1889, for two essays related to her previous work, Kovalevskaya received a prize from the Stockholm Academy 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. But when Kovalevskaya wished, as a corresponding member, to attend the academic meetings, she was told that the participation of women in them "is not in the customs of the Academy."

    In September she again left for Stockholm.


    The blog "Know your native land" is a virtual journey for children around the Pskov region and is the embodiment in the Internet space of the main materials of the project of the Pskov Centralized Library System "Know your native land!".


    This project was developed and implemented in the libraries of the Centralized Library System of Pskov in 2012-2013. - Library - Center for Communication and Information, Children's Ecological Library "Rainbow", Library "Spring" named after. S.A. Zolottsev and in the innovation-methodical department of the Central City Library.


    The main goal of the project is to give an idea of ​​the historical past of the Pskov region, its present, about the people (personalities) who glorified the Pskov region, about the richness and originality of the nature of the Pskov region.

    The project brought together librarians, participants in the educational process and parents with a single goal.

    “The education of love for the native land, for the native culture, for the native village or city, for the native speech is a task of paramount importance and there is no need to prove it. But how to cultivate this love? It starts small - with love for your family, for your home, for your school. Gradually expanding, this love for the native land turns into love for one's country - for its history, its past and present ”(D.S. Likhachev).


    Pskov. Phot. Peter Kosykh.
    Our region has made a significant contribution to the formation, development and protection of Russian statehood, to the spiritual life of society. The Pskov region, both in the past and in the present, has more than once set an example of understanding of all-Russian interests, gave rise to local experience that became the property of society, put forward bright heroic personalities, prominent scientists, writers, and artists.

    Project implementation partners:

    City schools:
    · Secondary school No. 24 im. L.I. Malyakova (teacher of the beginning classes Grigoryeva Valentina Ivanovna)
    · Secondary school No. 12 named after. Hero of Russia A. Shiryaev (teacher of the beginning classes Ovchinnikova Tatyana Pavlovna)
    Border - customs - legal lyceum (teacher of the beginning classes Ivanova Zinaida Mikhailovna)

    Pskov Regional Institute for Advanced Studies of Education Workers:
    Pasman Tatyana Borisovna - methodologist in history, social science and law of POIPKRO

    Pskov State University
    Bredikhina Valentina Nikolaevna, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Theory and Methods of Humanitarian Education, Pskov State University.

    Blog editor:
    Burova N.G. - head. Department of Information and Communication Technologies of the Central City Hospital of Pskov

    At present, despite the fact that the project, which was originally the basis for the creation of this resource, has been completed, our local history blog continues to successfully exist and develop. Being in its essence an information and educational resource and a good help for those who want to get to know Pskov and the amazing Pskov region (especially for children), whether it is the opening of a monument in Pskov or on the territory of the Pskov region, impressions from trips to one of the corners of the Pskov region, the creation of a new local history toy library or photo gallery, and, of course, we always inform our readers about the publication of new books about Pskov, designed for young local historians.

    The materials of this blog can be used both in school classes and at library events, or they can be read just like that - for self-education!

    We are waiting on the pages of our blog for all the guys who are not indifferent to the history of Pskov and the Pskov region, and, in turn, we promise to delight our visitors with new materials. By the way, blog updates can be found in the section

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