Since Antiquity, women were destined to stay at home.
They were expected to be gentle, patient, obedient.
But one day, they appeared — those who refused that fate.
Those who read when everyone else was asleep.
Those who knocked on the closed doors of science.
Among them — Sofia Kovalevskaya.
The first woman professor of mathematics in Europe.
A voice that was silenced for far too long.
Sofia Kovalevskaya
mathematician, pioneer
The “Matilda Effect” refers to the phenomenon in which the discoveries of women scientists were attributed to their male colleagues — a deeper way of denying their place and contribution in the history of science.
Matilda Timeline
Ada Lovelace
mid-19th century
Mileva Marić
early 20th century
Lise Meitner
1930s–40s
Rosalind Franklin
1950s
Jocelyn Bell Burnell
1960s