Olga Ladyzhenskaya

Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya
Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya
Born	(1922-03-07)March 7, 1922 Kologriv, Soviet Union
Died	Saint Petersburg, Russia
Nationality	Soviet–Russian
Fields	Partial differential equations
Institutions	Saint Petersburg University
Alma mater	Moscow University
Doctoral advisor	Ivan Petrovsky Sergei Sobolev
Notable students	Nina Uralt'seva Ludwig Faddeev Vladimir Buslaev
Known for	Fluid dynamics of the Navier-Stokes equations, Hilbert's nineteenth problem, partial differential equations
Notable awards	Lomonosov Gold Medal (2002)

Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya (Russian: Óльга Алекса́ндровна Лады́женская) (7 March 1922 – 12 January 2004) was a Soviet and Russian mathematician. She was known for her work on partial differential equations (especially Hilbert's 19th problem) and fluid dynamics. She provided the first rigorous proofs of the convergence of a finite difference method for the Navier–Stokes equations. She was a student of Ivan Petrovsky. She was awarded the Lomonosov Gold Medal in 2002.

Biography

Ladyzhenskaya was born and grew up in Kologriv. She was the daughter of a mathematics teacher who is credited with her early inspiration and love of mathematics. In October 1937 her father was arrested by the NKVD and soon killed. Young Olga was able to finish high school but, because her father was an "enemy of the people", she was forbidden to enter the Leningrad University.

After Joseph Stalin died in 1953, Ladyzhenskaya presented her doctoral thesis and was given the degree she had long before earned. She went on to teach at the university in Leningrad and at the Steklov Institute, staying in Russia even after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rapid salary deflation for professors.

Publications

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• (translated by Jack Lohwater).
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See also

• Elliptic equation
• Ladyzhenskaya's inequality
• Navier-Stokes equations
• Partial differential equation

References

Biographical and general references

• . Some recollections of the authors about Olga Ladyzhenskaya and Olga Oleinik.
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• . A biography in the Biographies of Women Mathematicians, Agnes Scott College.
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• . 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 Ladyzhenskaya at the Mathematics Genealogy Project.
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• Olga Ladyzhenskaya at PlanetMath.org.
• . Memorial page at the Saint Petersburg Mathematical Pantheon.