She Invented That A digital museum of women in science

Scientist Exhibit

Sofya Kovalevskaya

Mathematics

1850 – 1891 Russia

Made foundational contributions to partial differential equations and the mathematical theory of rotating bodies

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Sofya Kovalevskaya

Overview

About Sofya Kovalevskaya

Sofya Kovalevskaya was a mathematician who made major contributions to analysis, differential equations, and mechanics. The Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem gives important conditions for the existence and uniqueness of solutions to certain partial differential equations. She also discovered a new integrable case for the motion of a rotating rigid body, now known as the Kovalevskaya top. She became one of the first women in modern Europe to hold a professorship in mathematics.

Scientific Contribution

Key Discovery

Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem and partial differential equations

Foundational work on existence results for solutions of systems of partial differential equations.

Kovalevskaya top

A major integrable case in the mathematical theory of rotating rigid bodies.

Life Timeline

Important Moments

1874

education

Receives her doctorate from Göttingen University

Kovalevskaya was awarded a doctorate summa cum laude after submitting major work on partial differential equations, Abelian integrals and Saturn's rings.

1884

career

Becomes extraordinary professor in Stockholm

After lecturing in Stockholm, Kovalevskaya was appointed extraordinary professor of higher analysis.

1888

award

Receives the Prix Bordin for work on rigid-body rotation

The French Academy of Sciences awarded Kovalevskaya the Prix Bordin for her work on the rotation of a solid body about a fixed point, now associated with the Kovalevskaya top.

1889

career

Receives a chair at Stockholm University

Kovalevskaya obtained a full chair in Stockholm, one of the earliest such appointments for a woman at a European university.

Places & Networks

Institutions