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MINSK, 3 April (BelTA) – The great mathematician Sofya Kovalevskaya devoted herself entirely to science, while her daughter was raised mostly by nannies, Tatiana Busel, academic secretary of the Institute of Mathematics of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, said in a new episode of the V Teme. Nashi [On Point. The Nation’s Pride] project on BelTA’s YouTube channel.
Sofya Kovalevskaya’s life was far from easy. When she was already a well-known mathematician in Europe, her husband, Vladimir Kovalevsky, who worked in commerce, committed suicide due to financial troubles. This tragedy deeply affected her, as she was left alone with a child. Although their marriage was considered a formality (the young couple wed so that Sofya could study at a European university), she still cared for him. “Apparently, she grew attached to him. And they say that when she learned of his death, she lay for four days without eating or drinking. It was a shock and a trauma for her,” Tatiana Busel noted.
Many people treated her with prejudice and did not take her seriously as a scholar. Yet Sofya Kovalevskaya’s strong character and passion for mathematics prevailed. “She won people over with the clarity and logic of her lectures, with her beauty, her intellect, her enthusiasm. She managed to convey her love for mathematics to her students. She taught many courses, and people came specifically to hear her. She did not receive a permanent professorship for nothing,” Tatiana Busel emphasized.
“Many sources say she was not very close to her daughter, and that friends often looked after the child. She hired a nanny, and later, shortly before her death, she managed to send her daughter to Russia, where others cared for her. Some sources even say that Julia Lermontova [one of the first Russian women chemists] looked after the girl, and the daughter called her ‘Mama Julia,’” the academic secretary said.
For Professor Sofya Kovalevskaya, mathematics was closer: it was her god, the force to which she gave all her energy and time. “After defending her dissertation, she returned to Russia (let’s step back a bit). During her break from science (four years she tried to live the standard social life her father wanted for her), she couldn’t bear it. Even though she attended balls, her friends kept telling her: ‘Sofya, what are you doing? Go back to science: that’s your place.’ And when she returned to science, she truly felt free and happy. Although she was troubled by the fact that she left her husband in Russia and went to Sweden to work,” Tatiana Busel noted, adding that when rumors of her husband’s alleged financial misconduct appeared, she restored his good name. “She returned to Russia and proved he was innocent. She cherished his reputation. There was love. She gave birth after some time in a fictitious marriage. I insist that they loved each other.”
Tatiana Busel explains Sofya Kovalevskaya’s distant relationship with her daughter through her own childhood experience: she too had been raised by nannies and lacked parental affection. Moreover, in the 19th-century noble environment, it was common for children to be raised by nannies and governesses. When Sofya Kovalevskaya brought her daughter to Sweden, she placed her in a good boarding school to ensure a proper education. And shortly before her death, sensing her time was short, she sent her daughter back to Russia.
Her attitude toward work showed what science and mathematics meant to her. During one of her travels, she caught a cold. “And even while ill, she continued lecturing. But when she finally collapsed with pneumonia and could no longer stand, nothing could be done,” the expert noted.
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