Sofia Kovalevskaia, also spelt Kovalevskya depending on the translation, was born on January 15, 1850 in Moscow Russia as Sofia Krukovsky. She was born into Russian Nobility, although minor, and given that both of her parents were well educated, she was as well. From an early age she showed a strong interest in Mathematics spurred by the fact that her nursery walls were covered in her father’s lecture notes on differential and integral analysis (Calculus). Originally Sofia’s father provided her with advanced math tutors and supported her interest and talent in mathematics, but after Sofia placed math above her other studies his support dwindled and her tutoring sessions stopped. Though this did not stop Sofia’s interest in furthering her education and turned to educating herself. When Sofia was fourteen she taught herself trigonometry in order to understand a book of physics that a friend of the family, Professor Tyrtov, had written and given to the Krukovskys. While Professor Tyrtov urged Sofia’s father to let her continue her mathematical skills, it was some time before she was permitted to take private lessons. After secondary school Sofia wanted to study abroad at the University level but her father would not permit her to go. At the time it was against the law for a young woman to travel alone without the consent of either her father or her husband. In order to continue her education Sofia married Vladimir Kovalevsky in September 1868 at the age of eighteen. The couple traveled shortly after marriage to Heidelburg where Sofia hoped to attend a university. Women were not allowed at that time to attend, but Sofia convinced the University to allow her to attended classes unofficially just as long as she received the Professors approval. While in her three semesters at Heidelburg, Sofia shocked her Professors with her gift for mathematics. She decided in 1871 to move to Berlin in order to study under Weierstrass. This time though, Sofia was unable to convince the University to permit her attendance, despite Weierstrass and other faculty support. This set back did not hinder Sofia’s education, in fact it was a blessing in disguise, because Weirstrass became her private tutor. In the four years that Sofia spent studying under Weierstrass she produced three papers that Weierstrass felt each deserved a doctorate, “The three papers were on Partial differential equations, Abelian integrals and Saturn's Rings.”

 

Partial Differential Equation (PDE) is a differential equation that contains unknown multivariable functions and their partial derivatives. PDEs are used to formulate problems involving functions of several variables, and are either solved by hand, or used to create a relevant computer model.PDEs can be used to describe a wide variety of phenomena such as sound, heat, electrostatics, electrodynamics, fluid flow, or elasticity. These seemingly distinct physical phenomena can be formalized identically in terms of PDEs, which shows that they are governed by the same underlying dynamic. Just as ordinary differential equations often model one-dimensional dynamical systems, partial differential equations often model multidimensional systems. PDEs find their generalization in stochastic partial differential equations.

Abelian Integrals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abelian_integral

 

Saturn’s Rings: Sofia argued in this paper that the Rings of Saturn were actually egg-shaped and completely symmetrical given a certain point. This was later disproven.

 

 In 1874 Sofia was finally granted a PhD from the University of Gottingen. Despite her acknowledged expertise Sofia was still unable to find work and went into a six year period of time where she stopped all work in mathematics and failed to respond to Weierstrass attempts at contacting her. In 1878 Sofia gave birth to her daughter and in 1880 began studying mathematics again. In 1882 she began work on refraction of light in crystals. Though she gained the majority of her recognition after obtaining a temporary and finally permanent teaching position at Stockholm University in Sweden in 1884. Making her the third woman to become a professor in Europe. In 1888 Sofia was awarded with the Prix Bordin for her contribution to the study of the rigid body.

 

Where Do We See Sofia In Against the Day?

Sofia is explicitly mentioned at the top of page 500 in the book but many of her characteristics can be seen, in my opinion, through the character of Yashmeen. Sofia is mentioned in relation to her relationship with Professor Weierstrass, and is being related to the type of relationship that Yashmeen may be encountering with Professor Renfrew. Professor Renfrew is seen to be pursuing Yashmeen in an unclear manner and the “folklore” of Sofia’s relationship comes up as a warning. Though in my research there was no evidence that Sofia and Weierstrass had an affair. Yashmeen is similar to Sofia in many ways including her obsession with mathematics and her disinterest in much else. Her ability to sit down and teach her self rather dense material as we see Yashmeen do on page 496 is very similar that which Sofia did her whole life.

Other instances where Sofia’s work comes into play in the book would be with her research regarding the refraction of light. Iceland Spar is a topic of interest throughout the book and deals with this exact interest in the refraction of light. Sofia wrote a paper specifically on the refraction of light with crystals in her years leading up to becoming a professor. Light is an underlying theme not only in relation to crystal but to almost every aspect. Merle Rideout is obsessed with light and how it can be stopped or transfer, manipulated or isolated. Though Sofia does not play a huge role in the book her research may be applied in various sections.

 

http://www.physics.purdue.edu/wip/herstory/kovalevskaia.html

 

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Kovalevskaya.html

 

http://www.maa.org/pubs/Calc_articles/ma072.pdf

 

http://www.agnesscott.edu/lriddle/women/kova.htm