... Lovelace (1815-1852) and Mary Fairfax Somerville (1780-1872) were able to pursue mathematical interests. The greatest of nineteenth-century women, Sofya Kovalevskaya, advanced very far in this male world though her own powerful energy and extraordinary talent. Her achievements would be remarkable under any circumstances. When set against brevity of her life and discouragement she met at every stage of her career from her family and from every institution of society they are awe-inspiring. Sofya Vasilevna Kryukovskaya was born in Moscow, January 15, 1850 (January 3 on the Julian Calendar used in Russia at the time). Her parents, Vasilii Vasilevich Kryukovskoi (1800-1874) and Elizaveta Fyodorovna Shubert (1820-1879) were minor gentry. They both took little interest in upbringing of their children. The first eight years of her life Sofya spend in Kaluga, south of Moscow, with her older sister Anyta, and a younger brother Fydor. The main adult in children's' life, as in ...

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