Sofya Kovalevskaya was a 19th century Russian mathematician, novelist, and political activist. She was born into Russia at a time of political unrest and, well, pretty restrictive times for women. How restrictive? Like she literally had to fake a marriage so she could legally leave Russia and go to a country that would allow her to study past high school - and that's just the beginning of her story, my friends. Joining us to talk about Sofya is Francesca Bernardi, the co-founder of the high school summer camp - Girls Talk Math! The camp is hosted at the Univerisity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and not only introduces girls to complex math concepts that they wouldn't otherwise encounter until grad school, but to historic lady mathematicians, whom they they create a podcast about. I know - it's like Femmes of STEM Jr! PS - The audio sounds a bit shitty for the first three minutes of the episode, but it goes back to normal after that I promise! For images, references, and further reading, visit the Femmes of STEM website at www.femmesofstem.com