NDSU to host Sonia Kovalevsky Day for young women

The NDSU mathematics department will host the 28th annual Sonia Kovalevsky Day on Saturday, Oct. 4, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in room 300 of the A. Glenn Hill Center.

The event is designed for young women in grades 8-12 and offers mathematics activities, games and career information. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. The goal of the program is to encourage interest in mathematics and to provide participants with opportunities to explore careers in the field.

Sonia Kovalevsky was a pioneering mathematician of the 19th century, noted for being one of the first women to break gender barriers in mathematics. Born in Moscow in 1850, she earned her doctorate summa cum laude from Göttingen University in 1874. Her work spanned differential equations, mechanics, and analysis, and she became the first woman appointed to a full professorship in Northern Europe. She also served on an editorial board for a scientific journal and was awarded the Prix Bordin by the French Academy of Sciences for her work on the rotation of a solid body around a fixed point. Kovalevsky died in Stockholm in 1891.

Sonia Kovalevsky Day is supported by the mathematics department, College of Arts and Sciences, Office of the Provost, NDSU Bookstore and NDSU Alumni Friends of Sonia Kovalevsky Day.

Registration is open through Sept. 24.

For more information and to register, visit the NDSU mathematics department’s website.