The Legacy of Sonya Kovalevskaya


Book Description

Sonya Kovalevskaya was a distinguished mathematician and considered by her contemporaries to be among the best of her generation. This work contains background material about Kovalevskaya's life and work, including a discussion of how she has been perceived by the mathematical community over the last century.




Remembering Sofya Kovalevskaya


Book Description

Sofia Kovalevskaya was a brilliant and determined young Russian woman of the 19th century who wanted to become a mathematician and who succeeded, in often difficult circumstances, in becoming arguably the first woman to have a professional university career in the way we understand it today. This memoir, written by a mathematician who specialises in symplectic geometry and integrable systems, is a personal exploration of the life, the writings and the mathematical achievements of a remarkable woman. It emphasises the originality of Kovalevskaya’s work and assesses her legacy and reputation as a mathematician and scientist. Her ideas are explained in a way that is accessible to a general audience, with diagrams, marginal notes and commentary to help explain the mathematical concepts and provide context. This fascinating book, which also examines Kovalevskaya’s love of literature, will be of interest to historians looking for a treatment of the mathematics, and those doing feminist or gender studies.




Complexities


Book Description

Sophie Germain taught herself mathematics by candlelight, huddled in her bedclothes. Ada Byron Lovelace anticipated aspects of general-purpose digital computing by more than a century. Cora Ratto de Sadosky advanced messages of tolerance and equality while sharing her mathematical talents with generations of students. This captivating book gives voice to women mathematicians from the late eighteenth century through to the present day. It documents the complex nature of the conditions women around the world have faced--and continue to face--while pursuing their careers in mathematics. The stories of the three women above and those of many more appear here, each one enlightening and inspiring. The earlier parts of the book provide historical context and perspective, beginning with excursions into the lives of fifteen women born before 1920. Included are histories of collective efforts to improve women's opportunities in research mathematics. In addition, a photo essay puts a human face on the subject as it illustrates women's contributions in professional associations. More than eighty women from academe, government, and the private sector provide a rich mélange of insights and strategies for creating workable career paths while maintaining rewarding personal lives. The book discusses related social and cultural issues, and includes a summary of recent comparative data relating to women and men in mathematics and women from other sciences. First-person accounts provide explicit how-tos; many narratives demonstrate great determination and perseverance. Talented women vividly portray their pleasure in discovering new mathematics. The senior among them speak out candidly, interweaving their mathematics with autobiographical detail. At the beginning of a new century, women at all stages of their careers share their outlooks and experiences. Clear, engaging, and meticulously researched, Complexities will inspire young women who are contemplating careers in mathematics and will speak to women in many fields of endeavor and walks of life.




Uneasy Careers and Intimate Lives


Book Description

These pioneering studies of women in science pay special attention to the mutual impact of family life and scientific career. The contributors address five key themes: historical changes in such concepts as scientific career, profession, patronage, and family; differences in "gender image" associated with various branches of science; consequences of national differences and emigration; opportunities for scientific work opened or closed by marriage; and levels of women's awareness about the role of gender in science. An international group of historians of science discuss a wide range of European and American women scientists--from early nineteenth-century English botanists to Marie Curie to the twentieth-century theoretical biologist, Dorothy Wrinch.




Harmonic Analysis on Symmetric Spaces and Applications II


Book Description

Well, finally, here it is-the long-promised "Revenge of the Higher Rank Symmetric Spaces and Their Fundamental Domains." When I began work on it in 1977, I would probably have stopped immediately if someone had told me that ten years would pass before I would declare it "finished." Yes, I am declaring it finished-though certainly not perfected. There is a large amount of work going on at the moment as the piles of preprints reach the ceiling. Nevertheless, it is summer and the ocean calls. So I am not going to spend another ten years revising and polishing. But, gentle reader, do send me your corrections and even your preprints. Thanks to your work, there is an Appendix at the end of this volume with corrections to Volume I. I said it all in the Preface to Volume I. So I will try not to repeat myself here. Yes, the "recent trends" mentioned in that Preface are still just as recent.




Harmonic Analysis on Symmetric Spaces—Higher Rank Spaces, Positive Definite Matrix Space and Generalizations


Book Description

This text is an introduction to harmonic analysis on symmetric spaces, focusing on advanced topics such as higher rank spaces, positive definite matrix space and generalizations. It is intended for beginning graduate students in mathematics or researchers in physics or engineering. As with the introductory book entitled "Harmonic Analysis on Symmetric Spaces - Euclidean Space, the Sphere, and the Poincaré Upper Half Plane, the style is informal with an emphasis on motivation, concrete examples, history, and applications. The symmetric spaces considered here are quotients X=G/K, where G is a non-compact real Lie group, such as the general linear group GL(n,P) of all n x n non-singular real matrices, and K=O(n), the maximal compact subgroup of orthogonal matrices. Other examples are Siegel's upper half "plane" and the quaternionic upper half "plane". In the case of the general linear group, one can identify X with the space Pn of n x n positive definite symmetric matrices. Many corrections and updates have been incorporated in this new edition. Updates include discussions of random matrix theory and quantum chaos, as well as recent research on modular forms and their corresponding L-functions in higher rank. Many applications have been added, such as the solution of the heat equation on Pn, the central limit theorem of Donald St. P. Richards for Pn, results on densest lattice packing of spheres in Euclidean space, and GL(n)-analogs of the Weyl law for eigenvalues of the Laplacian in plane domains. Topics featured throughout the text include inversion formulas for Fourier transforms, central limit theorems, fundamental domains in X for discrete groups Γ (such as the modular group GL(n,Z) of n x n matrices with integer entries and determinant ±1), connections with the problem of finding densest lattice packings of spheres in Euclidean space, automorphic forms, Hecke operators, L-functions, and the Selberg trace formula and its applications in spectral theory as well as number theory.




The Kowalevski Property


Book Description

This book is a collection of survey articles on several topics related to the general notion of integrability. It stems from a workshop on ''Mathematical Methods of Regular Dynamics'' dedicated to Sophie Kowalevski. Leading experts introduce corresponding areas in depth. The book provides a broad overview of research, from the pioneering work of the nineteenth century to the developments of the 1970s through the present. The book begins with two historical papers by R. L. Cooke onKowalevski's life and work. Following are 15 research surveys on integrability issues in differential and algebraic geometry, classical complex analysis, discrete mathematics, spinning tops, Painleve equations, global analysis on manifolds, special functions, etc. It concludes with Kowalevski's famouspaper published in Acta Mathematica in 1889, ''Sur le probleme de la rotation d'un corps solide autour d'un point fixe''. The book is suitable for graduate students in pure and applied mathematics, the general mathematical audience studying integrability, and research mathematicians interested in differential and algebraic geometry, analysis, and special functions.




James Clerk Maxwell


Book Description

James Clerk Maxwell (1831 -1879) was one of the most important mathematical physicists of all time. In scientific terms his immortality is enshrined in electromagnetism and Maxwell's equations, but as this book shows, there was much more to Maxwell than electromagnetism, both in terms of his science and his wider life.




Science, Women and Revolution in Russia


Book Description

While the women's movement might seem like a relatively new concept, Russian women of the 1860s deserve to be acknowledged as individuals who changed the direction of science and opened the doors of higher education to women throughout Europe. The 1860's and 1870's witnessed a rise in women's consciousness and the beginnings of the Russian revolutionary movement that saw women pursue and receive doctorates in many areas of science. These same women went on to become some of the brightest in their fields. This book provides a look at Russian women scientists of the 1860's, their personal independence, and technical and literary achievements that made science the popular social movement of the time and changed the face of the Russian intellectual culture.




Finite Mathematics


Book Description