A letter from Malevich to Semevsky about Kovalevskaya (Q2118261)

There were not many female mathematicians in the 19th century. The two best known are Sophie Germain and Sofya Kovalevskaya, and there exist numerous books about either of them. In the case of Kovalevskaya, all biographies rely heavily on her own autobiographical story. Iosif Malevich taught the young Sofya elementary mathematics from age 8 to 17. In her autobiography, Kovalevskaya wrote that she did not ``remember his lessons at all''. In his letter to Semevsky written in 1892, Malevich addresses this and several other claims that Kovalevskaya had made and gives his version of the story. Parts of this letter have been published by Shtraik in 1951 (in Russian); the authors have made this important document available in the original Russian and an English translation, and have added many clarifying comments.