Logic, freedom and light

Olha Kossak — scientist

She grew up in Lviv in a family of English-language teachers, attended School No. 4 with advanced English studies and later studied at the Faculty of Applied Mathematics at Lviv University. She worked in the university’s research division and for many years served as an associate professor in the Department of Applied Mathematics.

Olha Kossak was married and raised two sons. Their names differ across the available publications, so this reference guide does not reproduce them without confirmation from the family.

The abstract of her doctoral-candidate dissertation on numerical solutions for free-vibration problems in composite axisymmetric bodies is dated 1991; biographical sources identify 1992 as the year of her defence or degree. Her work covered mechanics and numerical modelling, differential systems, computer graphics, elliptic curves and cryptography.

Academic publications confirm collaboration with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. A 2011 biographical interview names Aristotle University as the partner in Thessaloniki; no open document confirming the exact form or years of that collaboration has yet been located.

Eva Gata — writer

Her literary debut came in 2007 with the novel Очищення, або Роблю, що хочу [Purification, or I Do What I Want]. She explained her pen name this way: Eva refers to the first woman, while gata means “cat” in Greek—an independent creature that symbolised freedom and one’s own path for her.

The creative catalogue contains fifteen books represented by nineteen archive entries, including translations, reissues and a combined volume. Her prose brought together contemporary stories, classical imagery, music and the search for inner freedom.

Painting and textiles

Eva Gata began painting actively in 2013. Four months later she spoke of having created about sixty works. The “Labyrinths” exhibitions took place at Lviv’s Shtuka Gallery in 2015 and at the Lviv Palace of Arts in 2017, where painting was shown together with textiles.

According to Iryna Kliuchkovska’s recollection, Olha Kossak also wove, gave friends handmade cushions and wanted to try pottery. This is a personal testimony, not a complete catalogue of her decorative and applied art.

Legacy

Olha Kossak died in Lviv on 14 November 2018. The posthumous book Дивні історії [Strange Stories] appeared the following year, together with the memorial evening “Road to the Sun”. She is buried in field No. 59 of Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv.