Long-Aw8ed Accomplishments

Privet! As mentioned previously, and after much waiting and heartbreak, I was recognized for my value to education and mathematics. Now, as a professor at a university, I had finally gotten my dream job—working in my field of passion. I submitted my paper “On the Problem of the Rotation of a Solid Body about a Fixed Point” to the French Academy of Science. My paper solved a highly sought after problem and won the prestigious Prix Borden. I gained credibility and even more recognition with the paper. Until next time, do svidaniya!

Change for the Better

Privet! I left Russia for Berlin once again, in the year of 1883. While in Germany, I received a letter from an old Berlin acquaintance. He invited me to fill a temporary position as a lecturer at the University of Stockholm. This was quite a shock, for I had not been allowed to become a professor due to my gender and radical political views. I immediately accepted. What began as a temporary position then stretched into five years. The university realized that I benefited them quite grandiosely, and I was kept as a permanent professor. While at the university, I was selected to be an editor for the mathematics journal—the first woman to do so— as well as selected for Chair of Mechanics. I also published my very first paper and co-authored a play, “The Struggle for Happiness.” Until next time, do svidaniya!

The Married Life

Privet! Hello, again! Exhausted from the extensive work it took for me to finally earn my doctorate’s degree, my husband and I decided to return home to Russia in the year of 1874. This was the first time we had ever lived together as a couple. Even with my degree, I could not find suitable work. I eventually took up the position as the maths teacher at a girls’ elementary school. Vladimir found it difficult to obtain a job as well, but we managed. I had never much relied on Vladimir, and we weren’t a good match for each other. Our personalities were opposing and being together caused much tension and stress. After my father passed away, however, that changed. We became much closer as a married couple, even coming to love one another. It was during this time of closeness that our only daughter Sofia was born. While in Russia, we worked hard. I resigned from my teaching position and began to write for newspapers, scientific magazines, even fiction. We put all of our money towards the funding of a women’s university in Russia. This, however, turned out to be a disaster. We lost all of our savings and Vladimir took his own life. Only after our financial and familial ruin was I able to return to mathematics. Until next time, do svidaniya!

Summa Cum Laude

Privet! As I left off in my previous post, I had just been accepted as a student to the renowned Mathematician Karl Weierstrass. I studied with him for four years. During those four years, my knowledge of mathematics flourished and grew. During those four years, I learned more than I had ever learned before. During those four years, I became qualified enough to be awarded a doctorate’s degree. However, it was well known that the prestigious University of Berlin would not award me what I had earned. So, as per the advisement of Weierstrass, I sent my three theses off to the University of Göttinger. My outstanding papers (one describing Saturn’s rings, one describing elliptic integrals, and one describing an original theorem in the general theory of partial differential equations) eventually convinced the professors at Göttinger to award me with my much awaited PhD in mathematics—summa cum-laude, the top of my class. Until next time, do svidaniya!

Great Expectations; Greater Results.

Privet! How are my readers? As I left off, I had just been allowed to attend classes at the university in Heidelberg, Germany. My professors obviously did not expect much from a woman, but I astounded them with my intelligence and deep understanding of their material. I made such an impression on them that, after three successful semesters at the university, they sent me—laden with recommendations— to the University of Berlin and the most prestigious mathematician of my time, Karl Weierstrass. Now, like the university in Heidelberg, the University of Berlin would not allow women to attend classes. In fact, it was even stricter, prohibiting women from even unofficially or occasionally going to lectures. If I really wanted to pursue my studies, I would have to be amazing. Karl Weierstrass did not take me seriously. He, like all my preceding professors, thought that a simple woman could not grasp the ideas and concepts that the men of the world so loftily debated. However, I passed his hardest tests with flying colors, and at this point, he realized that I was an intellect that he could not pass up on teaching. Due to the University's strict rules about female students, Weierstrass consented to teaching me as a personal student. Thus began my wonderful journey into much more highly advanced mathematics. Until next time, do svidaniya!

Learning In Germany

Privet! I am back again, and with more stories! As you all know, I had left for Germany in 1868 to continue my schooling. I was so excited to try this new adventure to pursue my dreams— I wished to become a doctor or chemist. However, when I arrived in Germany, I was sorely disappointed. Like the universities in Russia, the university in Heidelberg did not allow women to attend lectures. I was furious— I had travelled all that distance only to be rejected simply based upon my gender. I am quite certain that the schools would not consider me even if I had invented mathematics. My husband Vladmir Kovalevsky and I had each gone our separate ways upon arriving in Germany, so even he wasn't there to help me out. Determined to not let the Germans get the best of me as well, I wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote letters upon letters and endless essays to the university asking, begging, and demanding that I be allowed to attend lectures and classes. Finally, they allowed me to attend the lectures, but as an unofficial student. I couldn't earn any degrees during my university schooling. But, I was making progress! Until next time, do svidaniya!

Proshchay, Rossiya—Hallo, Deutschland.

Privet! It is me, Sonya, once again. As I was saying in my last post, I was very fond of my mathematics, and might I say, I was very advanced as well. In fact, I taught myself trigonometry with a book borrowed from the neighbor after I had displayed such gusto for algebra and geometry. With my older sister by my side, we tried to show our father that we could flourish into scholars with the right education. We aspired to become chemists or doctors— something that could put honor into our family. We begged him to let us go abroad— to Germany or Switzerland— but he would not allow it! 

     "Unaccompanied women traveling to foreign lands is scandalous and unorthodox! I won't allow it, " he would say. We were at a stalemate! So, Anya and I devised a plan. We couldn't leave Russia unaccompanied, but we could leave with men to accompany us. These men that would accompany us couldn't be just any men, however. These men needed to either be our father or our husbands. Now, our father would sooner die than join us, so what better way to solve our problem than with marriage? So, in 1868, Anya arranged fictitious marriages with young men who were also in favor of our nihilistic views. So, with our convenient husbands at our sides, she was off to Paris and I was off to university in Heidelberg, Germany! But until next time, do svidaniya!