Lidia Seipelt-Lawęcka

5.09.1898 – 26.10.1951

Mathematician

Holder of a PhD degree in mathematics – it was the second doctorate in mathematics awarded at the University of Poznań and the first awarded to a woman.

1919-1926 – studies in Poznań

1926 – PhD degree

In 1919 she began studying mathematics at the University of Poznań. She chose the predominantly male course. Very few women studied mathematics, not to mention continuing career in this field.

However, Lidia Seipelt not only defended her PhD thesis titled Numerical analysis of Gauss’ mechanical quadrature method, but she was also offered a position at the mathematical seminary under Prof. Zdzisław Krygowski. She was systematically moving up the career ladder.

In 1945 she transferred to the University of Łódź, where she was working till the end of 1949. Her post-war biography is full of gaps.