Operator Methods in Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations: S. Kovalevsky Symposium, University of Stockholm, June 2000

by Sergio Albeverio (Editor), Nils Elander (Editor), W. Norrie Everitt (Editor)

CO«i»b.H BaCHJIbeBHa lU>BaJIeBcR8JI (Sonja Kovalevsky) was born in Moscow in 1850 and died in Stockholm in 1891. Between these years, in the then changing and turbulent circumstances for Europe, lies the all too brief life of this remarkable woman. This life was lived out within the great European centers of power and learning in Russia, France, Germany, Switzerland, England and Sweden. To this day, now 150 years after her birth, her influence for and contribution to mathe­ matics, science, literature, women's rights and democratic government are recorded and reviewed, not only in Europe but now in countries far removed in time and distance from the lands of her birth and being. This volume, dedicated to her memory and to her achievements, records the Proceedings of the Marcus Wallenberg Symposium held, in memory of Sonja Kovalevsky, at Stockholm University from 18 to 22 June 2000. The symposium was held at the Department of Mathematics with its excellent library and lecture halls providing favourable working conditions. Within these pages are contained a curriculum vitae for Sonja Kovalevsky, a list of all her scientific publications, together with a copy of the moving and elegant obituary notice written by her friend and protector Gosta Mittag-Leffler. These papers are followed by a leading article entitled Sonja Her life and professorship in Stockholm, written especially for this volume by Jan-Erik Bjork in preparation for his major address to the Symposium.

422 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2002

About the author

Sergio Albeverio (born 17 January 1939) is a Swiss mathematician and mathematical physicist working in numerous fields of mathematics and its applications. In particular he is known for his work in probability theory, analysis (including infinite dimensional, non-standard, and stochastic analysis), mathematical physics, and in the areas algebra, geometry, number theory, as well as in applications, from natural to social-economic sciences.

He initiated (with Raphael Høegh-Krohn) a systematic mathematical theory of Feynman path integrals and of infinite dimensional Dirichlet forms and associated stochastic processes (with applications particularly in quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics and quantum field theory). He also gave essential contributions to the development of areas such as p-adic functional and stochastic analysis as well as to the singular perturbation theory for differential operators. Other important contributions concern constructive quantum field theory and representation theory of infinite dimensional groups. He also initiated a new approach to the study of galaxy and planets formation inspired by stochastic mechanics.