Sophia Kovalevskaya arrived in Heidelberg on May 1869. As soon as she got off the train, she went straight to the university. However, the university authorities are skeptical about her arrival, and even suspect that she is some kind of liar. Fortunately, her "husband" Vladimir personally visited the headmaster, which made Heidelberg University allow her to attend classes temporarily. But once approved, Sophia can go to class without scruple.
Sophia Kovalevskaya's diligence and studiousness soon became famous in Heidelberg University, and at the same time, she quickly won people's respect. When she walks in the street, people will look at her with admiration, and sometimes there are close-up articles about her in the newspaper. Even so, Sophia remained calm and modest, and rarely appeared. German professors gave thumbs up to this unpretentious product. Because in Germany, they all have special respect for women, especially outstanding women like Sophia. But Sophia never likes to show off, and even seldom stays with the whole class. Everyone who has taken classes with her is puzzled by her learning spirit, but she is not worried about it, because she has her own goal, that is, to climb on the road of science.
Sophia Kovalevskaya was fascinated by the new course "Elliptic Function Theory" offered by Professor Koenigsberg at that time when she was preparing to take the examination for her doctorate in mathematics and mechanics at the University of Heidelberg. The bread here contains rigorous, exquisite and profound mathematical theories. When teaching this course, Koenigsberg enthusiastically praised his tutor, the master of mathematics and professor of Berlin University, Weierstrass, who was known as "the father of modern analysis". Sophia was full of admiration for the most famous mathematician in Europe, so she decided to go to Berlin University and study mathematics under the direct guidance of Wilstrass. /kloc-in the autumn of 0/870, Kovalevskaya arrived in Berlin. She directly begged Wilstrass to help her enter the university. She knows it's not easy. Several students in charge of administration in Wilstras are against women's education. However, because she is eager to learn, especially because it is directly related to her math career, Sophia decided to go to Professor Weierstrass's home and make a direct request to him.
When we first met, Professor Weisstras couldn't see Sophia's actual age at all. Sophia's clothes are neither fashionable nor fit. But when she offered to worship him as a teacher, Professor Weisstras was surprised. But he is willing to understand her and will not drive her away easily. But he put forward strict conditions, that is, he gave Sophia some questions and told her to come back to him if she could solve them.
Less than a week later, Sophia Kovalevskaya really came back with the answer. Weierstrass took it and was surprised to find that not only every question was correctly answered, but also the analysis of the answers was very unique. These problems can only be completed by talented students majoring in mathematics, including some extremely difficult problems related to elliptic functions. This shows that Sophia Kovalevskaya has completely mastered her major. Her answer made Wilstrass feel that she was a rare mathematical genius, and her "intuitive ability is rare even among older and more mature students".
In order to learn more about Sophia Kovalevskaya, Wilstras wrote to Koenigsberg of the University of Heidelberg, a former professor of Sophia. Ask him to provide detailed materials about Sophia Kovalevskaya's mathematics level, and ask him "whether this lady's character has enough guarantee", and so on. After receiving a positive reply, Weisstras was deeply moved by Sophia Kovalevskaya's ambition. So he decided to teach Sophia at home alone. Sophia deeply felt the elegance of a master of mathematics, so she studied harder and gave full play to her talent in mathematics. Mr. Weierstrass also attaches great importance to these meetings. He is the greatest mathematical analyst in the world. Charles Hermite, a famous French mathematician, once praised him highly and called him "the teacher of all of us". There are many world-famous mathematicians among the students of Weisstras, such as Leo Koenigsberg, Kurt Heinzel, hermann schwarz and others. But Sophia Kovalevskaya is his most talented and favorite student. Weierstrass and Sophia Kovalevskaya were so absorbed in writing these papers that they didn't even consider where to send them after writing. They decided to try to invest in the University of G? ttingen, because Weierstrass knows mathematicians there and G? ttingen University can award degrees to foreigners on the basis of papers. In order to get Sophia Kovalevskaya's degree smoothly, Professor Weierstrass ran around and kept in touch with the University of G? ttingen to write. This is because on the one hand, he tried his best to save Sophia from oral examination; Second, because Sophia is a woman, it will cause prejudice among male examiners. To this end, Weierstrass asked Sophia Kovalevskaya to write a letter full of praise to a head of philosophy department in G? ttingen. Among them, I said frankly and confidently: "If I openly admit that I don't know if I have enough confidence to withstand a rigorous exam, and openly admit that I am worried that answering strangers face to face in an unusual position will make me panic (although I know that the examiner will do everything for me), I hope that Mr. Dean, whom I respect very much, will not be misunderstood. Besides, I speak German very badly. " The head of the philosophy department at the University of G? ttingen finally gave in. 1874 In August, Sophia Kovalevskaya got her doctorate in mathematics with the best results, and did not pass the oral examination. She is the first woman to get a doctorate in mathematics except Renaissance Italy, and she is also one of the first women to get a doctorate in all subjects.