MINSK, 2 April (BelTA) – The reasons why Sofya Kovalevskaya became interested in mathematics and what influenced her are explored in a new episode of the V Teme. Nashi [On Point. The Nation’s Pride] project on BelTA’s YouTube channel.
In memoirs of her childhood, Sofya Kovalevskaya wrote that the walls of her room were not covered with ordinary wallpaper but with sheets of mathematical formulas. There were differential equations, integral equations and their solutions. When she later took lessons on these topics as a teenager, she felt as if she already knew them. As a child, out of boredom or curiosity, she had likely studied and tried to understand the “wallpaper” in her room. Did that play a role in her fascination with science, and mathematics in particular?
“The thing is that many of a person's deep seated beliefs really come from childhood,” cognitive behavioral therapist, psychologist Alena Petrovskaya noted. “It's important to remember that Sofya's father was against fascination with science. Therefore, from early childhood, he made her see mathematics as something of a forbidden fruit.”
She added that for the future scientist, studying mathematics became a symbol of freedom and a way to prove to her father, through learning and achievements, that she deserved his love. She was likely striving to be noticed through extraordinary accomplishments. “Unfortunately, this was one of the psychological issues that Sofya carried throughout her life,” the psychologist underscored. “She overcompensated for the lack of her father's attention by earning his love through her scientific achievements.”
It is worthy to consider that her father was a busy man and could not give his daughters proper attention. “Her father was a military man, a representative of order, law, and a patriarchal way of life. For this reason, I think that studying mathematics was seen by him as a threat to family honor. As if a woman studying science might be pulled away from more important feminine duties: religion and family,” Alena Petrovskaya explained.
At the same time, Sofya Kovalevskaya's father was an educated man. In the context of 19th century society and its customs, a young lady’s interest in science did not fit the conventional notion of what a well bred girl should do.
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