162 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



respects this richly endowed daughter of Holy Russia was 

 par excellence the woman of genius of the latter half of the 

 nineteenth century. 



She was born in Moscow in 1850, but although her career 

 was brief it was one of meteoric splendor. At an early age 

 she exhibited an unusual talent for mathematics and an un- 

 quenchable thirst for knowledge. Not being able to obtain 

 in her own country the educational advantages she desired, 

 she resolved at the age of eighteen to go to Germany with 

 a view of pursuing her studies there under more favorable 

 auspices. 



She first matriculated in the University of Heidelberg, 

 where she spent two years in studying mathematics under 

 the most eminent professors of that famous old institution. 

 Thence she went to Berlin. She could not enter the Uni- 

 versity there, as its doors were closed to female students; 

 but she was fortunate enough to prevail on the illustrious 

 Professor "Weierstrass, regarded by many as the father of 

 mathematical analysis, to give her private lessons. He soon 

 discovered to his astonishment that this child-woman had 

 "the gift of intuitive genius to a degree he had seldom 

 found among even his older and more developed students. ' ' 

 Under this eminent mathematician Sonya spent about three 

 years, at the end of which period she was able to present to 

 the University of Gottingen three theses which she had 

 written under the direction of her professor. The merit of 

 her work and the testimonials which she was able to pre- 

 sent from Weierstrass, Kirchhoff and others were of such 

 supreme excellence that she was exempted from an oral 

 examination and was enabled, by a very special privilege, 

 to receive her doctorate without appearing in person. 



Not long after receiving her doctor's degree one of the 

 first to be granted to a woman by a German university 

 she was offered the chair of higher mathematics in the Uni- 

 versity of Stockholm. She was the first woman in Europe, 



