Olga Ladyzhenskaya: Google Celebrates Russian Mathematician's 97th Birthday by Dedicating Doodle
Ladyzhenskaya authored more than 250 papers and solved partial differential equations which remain profoundly influential.
New Delhi, March 7: Google dedicated a doodle to Olga Ladyzhenskaya, a Russian mathematician, on her 97th birthday on March 7, 2019. The Google Doodle description on Olga Ladyzhenskaya paid tribute to her extraordinary courage and wrote that "she triumphed over personal tragedy and obstacles to become one of the most influential thinkers of her generation." International Women's Day 2018: Google Doodle Celebrates Womanhood With Empowering Stories of 12 Artists.
Ladyzhenskaya was born on this day in 1922, in a rural village called Kologriv. As a child, Ladyzhenskaya was inspired to love algebra by her father, a mathematician who descended from Russian nobility.
However, her father was jailed and executed by Soviet authorities who accused him of being an “enemy of the state,” when she was just 15 years old.
The family fell on hard times after that and her mother and sisters sold dresses, shoes, and soap to keep the family afloat. Ladyzhenskaya was later denied admission to Leningrad State University because of her family name, despite getting top grades.
Ladyzhenskaya taught maths to secondary school students for years, before attending Moscow State University. There she studied under the renowned mathematician Ivan Petrovsky.
To everybody's astonishment, she earned her PhD and went on to head the Laboratory of Mathematical Physics at the Steklov Mathematical Institute.
"Later, she elected to stay in Russia despite the collapse of the Soviet Union and the economic pressures that followed," said Google Doodle description.
Ladyzhenskaya authored more than 250 papers and solved partial differential equations which remain profoundly influential. Ladyzhenskaya became a member of the St. Petersburg Mathematical Society since 1959 and became its president in 1990. She also loved nature and the arts.
"She was awarded the Lomonosov Gold Medal by the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2002 for her impressive contributions to the world of mathematics," mentioned the Doodle description. We wish a Happy 97th birthday to Olga Ladyzhenskaya.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 07, 2019 12:31 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).