Boris Delaunay
Encyclopedia
Boris Nikolaevich Delaunay or Delone was one of the first Russian mountain climbers and a Soviet
/Russia
n mathematician
, and the father of physicist
Nikolai Borisovich Delone
.
The spelling Delone is a straightforward transliteration
from the Cyrillic alphabet
he often used in recent publications, while Delaunay is French language
version he used in the early French and German
publications.
Boris Delone got his surname
from his ancestor French Army officer
De Launay, who was captured in Russia during the Napoleon's invasion of 1812. De Launay was a nephew of the Bastille
governor marquis de Launay
, married a woman from the Tukhachevsky noble family, and stayed in Russia.
When Boris was a young boy his family spent summers in the Alps
where he learned mountain climbing. By 1913 he became one of the top three Russian mountain climbers. After the Russian revolution
he climbed mountains in the Caucasus
and Altai. One of the mountains (4300 m) near Belukha
is named after him. In the 1930s he was among the first to receive a qualification of Master of mountain climbing of the USSR. Future Nobel laureate in physics Igor Tamm
was his associate in setting tourist camps in the mountains.
Boris Delaunay worked in the fields of modern algebra, the geometry of numbers
. He used the results of Yevgraf Fyodorov
, Hermann Minkowski
, Georgy Voronoy
, and others in his development of modern mathematical crystallography and general mathematical model of crystals.
He invented what is now called Delaunay triangulation
in 1934. Among his best students are the mathematicians Aleksandr Aleksandrov
and Igor Shafarevich
.
Delaunay was elected the corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1929.
Delaunay is credited as being an organizer, in Leningrad in 1934, of the first mathematical olympiad
for high school students in the Soviet Union.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
/Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
, and the father of physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
Nikolai Borisovich Delone
Nikolai Borisovich Delone
Nikolai Borisovich Delone , was a Soviet physicist born in Leningrad, USSR .-Life:Delone was born in Leningrad on 22 May 1922. He is the son of Boris Delone, a mathematician...
.
The spelling Delone is a straightforward transliteration
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
from the Cyrillic alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
he often used in recent publications, while Delaunay is French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
version he used in the early French and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
publications.
Boris Delone got his surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
from his ancestor French Army officer
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
De Launay, who was captured in Russia during the Napoleon's invasion of 1812. De Launay was a nephew of the Bastille
Bastille
The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. The Bastille was built in response to the English threat to the city of...
governor marquis de Launay
Bernard-René de Launay
Bernard René Jourdan, marquis de Launay was the French governor of the Bastille, the son of a previous governor, and commander of its garrison when it was stormed on 14 July 1789 .-Early life:...
, married a woman from the Tukhachevsky noble family, and stayed in Russia.
When Boris was a young boy his family spent summers in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
where he learned mountain climbing. By 1913 he became one of the top three Russian mountain climbers. After the Russian revolution
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
he climbed mountains in the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
and Altai. One of the mountains (4300 m) near Belukha
Belukha Mountain
Belukha Mountain , located in the Katun Mountains, is the highest peak of the Altay Mountains in Russia. It is part of the World Heritage Site entitled Golden Mountains of Altai....
is named after him. In the 1930s he was among the first to receive a qualification of Master of mountain climbing of the USSR. Future Nobel laureate in physics Igor Tamm
Igor Tamm
Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm was a Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate who received most prestigious Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov and Ilya Frank, for the discovery of Cherenkov radiation, made in 1934.-Biography:Tamm was born in Vladivostok, Russian Empire , in a...
was his associate in setting tourist camps in the mountains.
Boris Delaunay worked in the fields of modern algebra, the geometry of numbers
Geometry of numbers
In number theory, the geometry of numbers studies convex bodies and integer vectors in n-dimensional space. The geometry of numbers was initiated by ....
. He used the results of Yevgraf Fyodorov
Yevgraf Fyodorov
Yevgraf Stepanovich Fyodorov, sometimes spelled Evgraf Stepanovich Fedorov , was a Russian mathematician, crystallographer, and mineralogist....
, Hermann Minkowski
Hermann Minkowski
Hermann Minkowski was a German mathematician of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, who created and developed the geometry of numbers and who used geometrical methods to solve difficult problems in number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity.- Life and work :Hermann Minkowski was born...
, Georgy Voronoy
Georgy Voronoy
Georgy Feodosevich Voronoy was a Russian Empire mathematician of Ukrainian origin. Among other things, he defined the Voronoi diagram.Voronoy was born in the village of Zhuravky, district of Pyriatin, in Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire .From 1889, Voronoy studied at Saint Petersburg...
, and others in his development of modern mathematical crystallography and general mathematical model of crystals.
He invented what is now called Delaunay triangulation
Delaunay triangulation
In mathematics and computational geometry, a Delaunay triangulation for a set P of points in a plane is a triangulation DT such that no point in P is inside the circumcircle of any triangle in DT. Delaunay triangulations maximize the minimum angle of all the angles of the triangles in the...
in 1934. Among his best students are the mathematicians Aleksandr Aleksandrov
Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov
Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov , and Alexandrov ) , was a Soviet/Russian mathematician, physicist, philosopher and mountaineer.- Scientific career :...
and Igor Shafarevich
Igor Shafarevich
Igor Rostislavovich Shafarevich is a Soviet and Russian mathematician, founder of a school of algebraic number theory and algebraic geometry in the USSR, and a political writer. He was also an important dissident figure under the Soviet regime, a public supporter of Andrei Sakharov's Human Rights...
.
Delaunay was elected the corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1929.
Delaunay is credited as being an organizer, in Leningrad in 1934, of the first mathematical olympiad
Soviet Student Olympiads
Soviet Student Olympiad was an annual set of contests for students in USSR. There were two separate multi-round competitions every year: for higher education and general education . Both competitions had several rounds, and winners from lower rounds would go to the next round. Not only individual...
for high school students in the Soviet Union.
External links
- Biography (in Russian) on the website of the Moscow State UniversityMoscow State UniversityLomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
- Boris Nikolaevich Delone (On his seventieth birthday)
- 80th Birthday - Reproduction of an article in Russian Mathematical Surveys 26 (1971) 199-203, with the kind permission of the London Mathematical Society Pages 199, 200, 201, 202, 203; Also in PDF format.