December 8, 1919 - August 15, 2001
Ekaterina Yushchenko (nee Rvacheva) was an expert in the field of computer software and among the first founders of the Kiev Cybernetics Institute. She was born in Chigirin, Ukraine, on December 8, 1919. After graduating from the Central Asiatic University in Tashkenet in 1942, she worked in a coal mine in Angren, then as a teacher in two secondary schools. Her mathematical activity began in 1946 where she worked in the Lviv Department in the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR where she worked in the area of probability theory and mathematical statistics, obtaining important results on local limit theorems and comparison of empiric data that were applied to problems in quantum mechanics. In 1951 she began developing algorithms for solving economic problems using methods of classical and discrete mathematics. She went on to become a leading pioneer in the theory and technology of programming.
Yuskchenko was awarded two State Prizes of the Ukraine and the Prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR as well as the Glushkov Prize for her theoretical results on computer algebras. She wrote over 200 scientific works, including 20 monographs and textbooks. In 2001 she was elected an Honored Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Moldova.