WORLD OF SCIENCE
On the top
DR. T. V. PADMA
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Kovalevskaya's work had a large impact in mathematics.
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Kovalevskaya obtained an unusual teaching position at Stockholm University, where she was paid by her students and not by the University. For six years, she struggled in an environment that was hostile to women. During this time, she also wrote several plays and some autobiographical novels, while staying active in mathematical research.
In 1888, she was awarded the prestigious Prix Bordin by the French Royal Academy of Sciences for her research on the rotation of a solid body about a fixed point. This piece of work, sometimes called the "Kovalevskaya top" is still of interest to mathematical physicists.
Recognition
In 1889, she received a prize from the Swedish Academy of Sciences, for her astounding mathematical contributions. She also became the first woman to hold a chair at her University (and, for that matter, at any modern European University). The same year, she was finally recognised in her native country, and the Russian Academy of Sciences elected her as a member in 1889.
Kovalevskaya's contributions had a large impact on mathematics because she acted as a link between the mathematical work that was being conducted in Western Europe and the work being done in Russia. Kovalevskaya became the first woman on the editorial staff of a mathematical journal. She published ten brilliant papers before her untimely death in 1891. After her death, a lunar crater was named in her honour.
In a letter in 1890, Kovalevskaya wrote: "It seems to me that the poet must see what others do not see, must see more deeply than other people. And the mathematician must do the same."
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