Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya (russian: Óльга Алекса́ндровна Лады́женская, link=no, p=ˈolʲɡə ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvnə ɫɐˈdɨʐɨnskəɪ̯ə, a=Ru-Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya.wav; 7 March 1922 – 12 January 2004) was a Russian mathematician who worked on

partial differential equation In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a Multivariable calculus, multivariable function. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be sol ...

fluid dynamics In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids— liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) an ...

, and the

finite difference method In numerical analysis, finite-difference methods (FDM) are a class of numerical techniques for solving differential equations by approximating derivatives with finite differences. Both the spatial domain and time interval (if applicable) are di ...

for the

Navier–Stokes equations In physics, the Navier–Stokes equations ( ) are partial differential equations which describe the motion of viscous fluid substances, named after French engineer and physicist Claude-Louis Navier and Anglo-Irish physicist and mathematician Geo ...

. She received the

Lomonosov Gold Medal The Lomonosov Gold Medal (russian: Большая золотая медаль имени М. В. Ломоносова ''Bol'shaya zolotaya medal' imeni M. V. Lomonosova''), named after Russian scientist and polymath Mikhail Lomonosov, is awarde ...

in 2002. She is the author of more than two hundred scientific works, among which are six

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monograph ...

Biography

Ladyzhenskaya was born and grew up in the small town of

Kologriv Kologriv (russian: Кологри́в) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative center of Kologrivsky District in Kostroma Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Unzha River northeast of Kostroma, the ad ...

, the daughter of a mathematics teacher who is credited with her early inspiration and love of mathematics. The artist

Gennady Ladyzhensky Gennady Aleksandrovich Ladyzhensky (russian: Генна́дий Алекса́ндрович Лады́женский; 23 January 1852, Kologriv - 2 September 1916, Kologriv) was a Russian landscape painter and Academician at the Imperial Aca ...

was her grandfather's brother, also born in this town. In 1937 her father, Aleksandr Ivanovich Ladýzhenski, was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

and executed as an "

enemy of the people The term enemy of the people or enemy of the nation, is a designation for the political or class opponents of the subgroup in power within a larger group. The term implies that by opposing the ruling subgroup, the "enemies" in question are ac ...

". Ladyzhenskaya completed high school in 1939, unlike her older sisters who weren't permitted to do the same. She was not admitted to the

Leningrad State University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...

due to her father's status and attended a pedagogical institute. After the German invasion of June 1941, she taught school in Kologriv. She was eventually admitted to

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

in 1943 and graduated in 1947. She began teaching in the

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

department of the university in 1950 and defended her PhD there, in 1951, under

Sergei Sobolev Prof Sergei Lvovich Sobolev (russian: Серге́й Льво́вич Со́болев) H FRSE (6 October 1908 – 3 January 1989) was a Soviet mathematician working in mathematical analysis and partial differential equations. Sobolev introduc ...

and Vladimir Smirnov. She received a second doctorate from the Moscow State University in 1953. In 1954, she joined the mathematical physics laboratory of the Steklov Institute and became its head in 1961. Ladyzhenskaya had a love of arts and storytelling, counting writer

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repress ...

and poet

Anna Akhmatova Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; uk, А́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко, Ánna Andríyivn ...

among her friends. Like Solzhenitsyn she was religious. She was once a member of the city council, and engaged in

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

activities, repeatedly risking her personal safety and career to aid people opposed to the Soviet regime. Ladyzhenskaya suffered from various eye problems in her later years and relied on special pencils to do her work. Two days before a trip to Florida, she died in her sleep in Russia on 12 January 2004.

Mathematical accomplishments

Ladyzhenskaya is known for her work on

s (especially

Hilbert's nineteenth problem Hilbert's nineteenth problem is one of the 23 Hilbert problems, set out in a list compiled in 1900 by David Hilbert. It asks whether the solutions of regular problems in the calculus of variations are always analytic. Informally, and perhaps less ...

) and

. She provided the first rigorous proofs of the convergence of a

for the

. She analyzed the regularity of parabolic equations, with Vsevolod A. Solonnikov and her student Nina Ural’tseva, and the regularity of

quasilinear Quasilinear may refer to: * Quasilinear function, a function that is both quasiconvex and quasiconcave * Quasilinear utility, an economic utility function linear in one argument * In complexity theory and mathematics, O(''n'' log ''n'') or some ...

elliptic equations. She wrote a student thesis under Ivan Petrovsky and was on the shortlist for the 1958

Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...

, ultimately awarded to

Klaus Roth Klaus Friedrich Roth (29 October 1925 – 10 November 2015) was a German-born British mathematician who won the Fields Medal for proving Roth's theorem on the Diophantine approximation of algebraic numbers. He was also a winner of the De M ...

and

René Thom René Frédéric Thom (; 2 September 1923 – 25 October 2002) was a French mathematician, who received the Fields Medal in 1958. He made his reputation as a topologist, moving on to aspects of what would be called singularity theory; he became w ...

Publications

* . * . * . * (Translated by Jack Lohwater). *

Awards and recognitions

* P. L. Chebyshev Prize (with Nina Nikolayevna Ural'tseva ) (1966) for the work "Linear and quasilinear equations of elliptic type” *

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

(1969) * Member of

Lincei National Academy The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...

in Rome (1989) * Member of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

(1990) *

Kovalevskaya Prize Kovalevskaya Prize (russian: link=no, Премия имени С. В. Ковалевской) is a national scientific prize awarded by Russian Academy of Sciences for outstanding achievements in mathematics since 1997 in honor of Sofya Kovalevs ...

(1992) for the series of works "Attractors for Semigroups and Evolution Equations" * ICM Emmy Noether Lecture (1994) *

John von Neumann Lecture The John von Neumann Prize (until 2019 named John von Neumann Lecture Prize) was established in 1959 with funds from IBM and other industry corporations, and is awarded for "outstanding and distinguished contributions to the field of applied ma ...

(1998) *

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (russian: Орден Дружбы, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds a ...

(1999) *

(2002) for outstanding achievements in the field of the theory of partial differential equations and mathematical physics * On 7 March 2019, the 97th anniversary of Ladyzhenskaya's birth, the search engine

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

released a

Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...

commemorating her. The accompanying comment read, "Today's Doodle celebrates Olga Ladyzhenskaya, a Russian mathematician who triumphed over personal tragedy and obstacles to become one of the most influential thinkers of her generation." * In 2022, the " Ladyzhenskaya Prize in Mathematical Physics" is created in her honor. It has been awarded for the first time on July 2, 2022 to Svetlana Jitomirskaya in a joint session at (WM)², World Meeting for Women in Mathematics and at the Probability and Mathematical Physics conference OAL Prize Winner 2022.

Notes

References

* * . Some recollections of the authors about Olga Ladyzhenskaya and Olga Oleinik. * . * * * . A biography in th
Biographies of Women Mathematicians

Agnes Scott College Agnes Scott College is a private women's liberal arts college in Decatur, Georgia. The college enrolls approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The college is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and is considered one of the ...

. * . * . Some recollections of the author about Olga Ladyzhenskaya and Olga Oleinik. * * * []

External links

* . The schedule of a workshop in honour of Olga A. Ladyzhenskaya. * . The proceedings of a workshop in honour of Olga Ladyzhenskaya and

Olga Oleinik Olga Arsenievna Oleinik (also as ''Oleĭnik'') HFRSE (russian: link=no, О́льга Арсе́ньевна Оле́йник) (2 July 1925 – 13 October 2001) was a Soviet mathematician who conducted pioneering work on the theory of partial di ...

. * . * . * * . Memorial page at th
Saint Petersburg Mathematical Pantheon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladyzhenskaya, Olga A. 1922 births 2004 deaths People from Kologrivsky District Writers from Kostroma Oblast 20th-century Russian mathematicians 20th-century women scientists Mathematical analysts Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Fluid dynamicists PDE theorists Recipients of the Lomonosov Gold Medal 20th-century women mathematicians Moscow State University alumni Saint Petersburg State University alumni Academic staff of the Steklov Institute of Mathematics Russian Christians Soviet mathematicians