Talk:Sofia Kovalevskaya

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] German article

It would be useful to translate de:Sonja Kowalewski (which is about 4 times longer) and merge it into this article. Pyrop 04:45, Oct 22, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] First female professor

The first female professor in Europe? We have som contradicting pages here... Maria Gaetana Agnesi in 1750 or Sofia in 1881? I did a small search and there are sources claiming Sofia as the first, others say she was the third, naming Maria Gaetana Agnesi and Laura Bassi as earlier female professors. Ellipse 23:43, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

It seems she was in fact the third. Laura Bassi was the first in 1732, Maria Gaetana Agnesi the second in 1750. Changed in text. Ellipse 00:13, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Category Swedish scientists

The user Muriel Gottrop removed the category Category:Swedish scientists on the premis that "she was not swedish". I think any professor of Stocholm University can be includend in the category. The removal is highly POV. -- Petri Krohn 23:25, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Possible vandalism

This article was modified on 11 October 2005 by 24.22.177.7. The anonymous user seems to be on a vandalization spree. The changes seem plausible, so I am not reverting. Please check the facts! -- Petri Krohn 23:25, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Marriage and child

Sofia had a husband and child, too. I found the story of her marriage to a liberal geology student named "Vladimir Kovalevsky" to be quite relevant to her development as hhe travelled with her initially to Heidelberg, and later she travelled back to Moscow to be with him for a few years. Initially this was a marriage "on paper" to ally herself with somebody who would let her make more of her own decisions than her family did, but during the Moscow years (in 1878) they had a daughter, Sofia. Vladimir entered business and then killed himself.

Not sure how to work this content in so I leave it to somebody else. 67.161.46.163 15:52, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Can this article be cleaned up?

Much of the material here seems poorly presented. As someone observed above, the German article would be a good model to follow.

To examples of problems with content:

(1) On her mother: "...had more education and 'appreciation of the finer things' than her husband." This could be at best a quote (of Sofia??) but in any case is POV by essence.

(2) The whole thing about the wallpaper. This is probably lifted straight from a biography by someone who forgot to present it as a musing (by whom?).

I think this article is worth the work. Kovalevskaya is an important figure in the history of gender in mathematics.

I agree: This article needs some grammar-checking, e.g. "Some came from her father, accidentally;" among others. In response to the above comment, I do recall point #2 (re. wallpaper anecdote) very clearly from my research for a brief biography I wrote in high school. I'll try to find some reliable sources. In addition, I think it should be mentioned that there is a crater named after her ("Kovaleskaya") on the far side of the moon. It seems the Russians got there first. :-) Eccl.7.12
As an addendum, I seem to recall that Kovalevskaya made some significant contributions to mathematical series. Again, I'll try to do some research in this area. Eccl.7.12 02:46, 11 November 2006 (UTC)