Sofja Kowalewskaja (1850 to 1891)

Sofja Kowalewskaja (1850 to 1891) was born in Moscow and displayed her mathematical talent early in life. In 1868 she gained her independence through a fictitious marriage and one year later went to Heidelberg together with the chemist Julia Lermontowa, were she was permitted to attended several mathematical courses. In 1870 the two women moved to Berlin, where Sofja Kowalewskaja commenced private studies. In 1874 she submitted an application for the awarding of a Doctorate in absentia to the University of Göttingen, which was approved due to the outstanding quality of the submitted work. Kowalewskaja received a Doctorate for her “Theory of the partial differential equations”. As the mathematician was unable to teach at a Russian university due to being a woman, she went to Stockholm, where she was appointed first Professor of Mathematics in Europe in 1884. Additionally she was awarded the valuable Bordin Prize by the Academy of Sciences.