The Facts On File Algebra Handbook

Kantrovich, for independently developing the work of linear

programming, a method of mathematically solving the allocation

of resources. He did this work to figure out shipping schedules

for the British Merchant Shipping Mission during World War II.

As a physicist, he developed Koopmans’ Theorem in quantum

mechanics before turning to economics, supposedly because pure

mathematics was not interesting or rewarding enough.

Kovalevskaya, Sofia Vasilyevna (Sofya Krovin-Krukoskaya, Sonja

Krovin-Krukoskaya)(1850–91) Russian mathematician who

overcame prejudice against women to make substantial

contributions to the subject of mathematics. She submitted a

paper entitled “On the Rotation of a Solid Body about a Fixed

Point” to the French Academy of Science for the Prix Bordin

competition, and it became the first SOLUTIONfor a body that

was asymmetrical and in which the center was not on an AXIS.

This work resulted in winning both the competition and an

increase in prize money for its brilliance. Kov alevskaya’s

education started young. At age 11, she learned mathematics

from her bedroom walls, where lecture notes on calculus had

been pasted up as wallpaper, and she taught herself trigonometry

at the age of 14 to understand a physics book given to her family

as a gift from the author, their neighbor. Despite her father’s

attempts to prevent her from studying mathematics, because it

was interfering with her other studies and because she was a girl,

her neighbor convinced her father that she was gifted and should

be allowed to learn. After much struggle with educational

leaders because of her gender, she eventually earned a doctorate

in mathematics despite being denied permission to attend the

university, thanks to the help of KARL THEODOR WILHELM

WEIERSTRASS, whorecognized her brilliance and tutored her

privately. She was not allowed to teach at the university level,

however, and was offered only a position of teaching arithmetic

to elementary school girls. She ultimately became a professor in

Stockholm three years after winning the Prix Bordin.

Lagrange, Joseph-Louis (Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia)

(1736–1813) Italian mathematician who was mostly self-

taught. Lagrange is considered one of the premier

mathematicians of his century. His work was for the most part

in calculus, and his brilliance was recognized early in his

BIOGRAPHIES Kovalevskaya – Lagrange

BIOGRAPHIES Kovalevskaya – Lagrange

Joseph-Louis Lagrange
(Courtesy of AIP Emilio Segrè
Visual Archives, E. Scott Barr
Collection)