Sonya Kovalevsky Day at Montgomery College, Rockville

HISTORY OF SONYA KOVALEVSKY DAY AT ROCKVILLE:

§ Since 1996, Montgomery College, Rockville has offered an annual Sonya Kovalevsky Day for 8^th grade girls and their teachers. 

§ The program was originally funded by a grant from the Mathematical Association of America Tensor Foundation.  Subsequent funding was provided by grants from the Montgomery College Foundation. 

PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM:

§ To inform girls of the many career options that are available to them in mathematics related fields.

§ To encourage girls to take as many advanced mathematics and science courses as possible while in high school so that they are better prepared to major in mathematics or a related subject in college

§ To encourage girls to pursue interests in careers that are still mostly populated by male students.

PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS:

§ Sixty 8^th grade girls from Montgomery County schools are invited to attend.  The girls, selected by their teachers, are average mathematics students who may already have doubts about continuing in mathematics courses.

§ Thirty middle school mathematics teachers are invited to attend with their students.

SONYA KOVALEVSKY:

§ Sonya Kovalevsky was the first woman to earn a doctorate in Mathematics.

§ Sonya worked independently attending lectures wherever she was permitted.

§ She earned her degree in 1874 from the University of Gottingen in absentia after writing three dissertations.

§ In 1888, Sonya won the Prix Bordin, a prestigious prize given by the French Academy of Sciences for her memoir, On the Problem of the Rotation of a Solid Body about a Fixed Point.

§ In 1889, Sonya was awarded an appointment as lifetime chair in mathematics at Stockholm University and membership in the Russian Academy.

§ However, Sonya was still not offered any teaching positions at Russian universities that she desired nor was she allowed to attend the meetings of the Russian Academy.