These five Cuban researchers were given the award named after Sofía Kovalevskaya (1850-1891), promoted by the foundation that immortalizes the work of this Russian scientist, the first female professor of mathematics in Europe.

The award is sponsored by the Kovalevskaya Foundation, directed by Ann Hibner Kovalevskaya, emeritus professor of women and genre studies at the Arizona State University, in the United States.

The award is divided in five categories, one of these is A Life’s Work, which was given to Sira María Allende; Doctor of Mathematical Sciences and professor at the University of Havana.

Also, her colleague from the University of Oriente, Isabel Alonso, receive the award in the category of Teaching, while the Master of Mathematical Sciences Nigreisy Montalvo, received it in the category of Master’s Thesis, due to the great social impact of her study related to breast cancer.

Another modality was Research, which was awarded to Lizet Sánchez, researcher at the Center of Molecular Immunology; and the Doctor of Technical Sciences Yailé Caballero Mota, who is a researcher and full professor at the University of Camagüey.

That Russian mathematician and writer made significant contributions to the fields of analysis, partial differential equations, and mechanics. Kovalevskaya was the first woman in the world to obtain the degree of Doctor of Mathematics in 1874.

The award is organized by the Committee of Female Scientists of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, and given every two years since 2005. Since then, 29 Cuban female scientist have been presented with this award.

Source: Prensa Latina