Mikhail Lavrentyev
Encyclopedia
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
, Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
– October 15, 1980, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, USSR) was an outstanding Soviet 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 hydrodynamicist.
Biography
Lavrentiev was born in KazanKazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
, where his father was an instructor at a college (he later became a professor at Kazan University, then Moscow University).
Lavrentiev entered Kazan University, and, when his family moved to Moscow in 1921, he transferred to the Department of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. He graduated in 1922. He continued his studies in the university in 1923-26 as a graduate student of Nikolai Luzin
Nikolai Luzin
Nikolai Nikolaevich Luzin, , was a Soviet/Russian mathematician known for his work in descriptive set theory and aspects of mathematical analysis with strong connections to point-set topology. He was the eponym of Luzitania, a loose group of young Moscow mathematicians of the first half of the...
.
Although Luzin was alleged to plagiarize in science and indulge in anti-Sovietism by some of his students in 1936, Lavrentiev did not participate in the notorious political persecution of his teacher which is known as the Luzin case or Luzin affair.
In 1927 Lavrentiev spent half a year in France, collaborating with French mathematicians, and upon returned took up a position with Moscow University. Later he became a member of the staff of the Steklov Institute
Steklov Institute of Mathematics
Steklov Institute of Mathematics or Steklov Mathematical Institute is a research institute based in Moscow, specialized in mathematics, and a part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It was established April 24, 1934 by the decision of the General Assembly of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in...
. His main contributions relate to conformal map
Conformal map
In mathematics, a conformal map is a function which preserves angles. In the most common case the function is between domains in the complex plane.More formally, a map,...
pings and partial differential equations.
Mstislav Keldysh
Mstislav Keldysh
Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh was a Soviet scientist in the field of mathematics and mechanics, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences , President of the USSR Academy of Sciences , three times Hero of Socialist Labor , fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . He was one of the key figures...
was one of his students.
One of Lavrentiev's scientific interests was the physics of explosive
Explosion
An explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...
processes, in which he had become involved when doing defense work during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. A better understanding of the physics of explosions made it possible to use controlled explosions in construction, the best-known example being the construction of the Medeu Mudflow Control Dam
Medeu Dam
Medeu Mudflow Control Dam is a dam across the Medeu Valley south-east of Almaty, Kazakhstan, designed to protect the city from devastating debris flows .- The mudflow threat :...
outside of Almaty
Almaty
Almaty , also known by its former names Verny and Alma-Ata , is the former capital of Kazakhstan and the nation's largest city, with a population of 1,348,500...
in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
.
Mikhail Lavrentiev was one of the main organizers and the first Chairman of the Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
n Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
(in his time the Academy of Sciences of the USSR) from its founding in 1957 to 1975. The foundation of the Siberia's "Academic Town" Akademgorodok
Akademgorodok
Akademgorodok , is a part of the Russian city Novosibirsk, located 20 km south of the city center. It is the educational and scientific centre of Siberia...
(now a district of Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
) remains his most widely known achievement.
He was also a founder of the Institute of Hydrodynamics of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences which since 1980 has been named after Lavrentiev.
Lavrentiev was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Socialist Labour, a Lenin Prize
Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
and USSR State Prize
USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
, and a Lomonosov Gold Medal
Lomonosov Gold Medal
The Lomonosov Gold Medal, named after Russian scientist and polymath Mikhail Lomonosov, is awarded each year since 1959 for outstanding achievements in the natural sciences and the humanities by the USSR Academy of Sciences and later the Russian Academy of Sciences . Two medals are awarded...
. He was elected a member of several world-renowned academies, and an honorable citizen of Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...
.
Mikhail A. Lavrentiev's son, also named Mikhail (Mikhail M. Lavrentiev), a talented mathematician in his own right, is a member of the leadership of Akademgorodok today.
External links
- Mikhail Lavrentiev's biography, at the site of Lavrentiev Hydrodynamics Institute.