Pavel Sergeyevich Alexandrov , sometimes romanized Aleksandroff or Aleksandrov (May 7, 1896–November 16, 1982) was a Soviet 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. He wrote about three hundred papers, making important contributions to set theory

Set theory

Set theory is the branch of mathematics that studies sets, which are collections of objects. Although any type of object can be collected into a set, set theory is applied most often to objects that are relevant to mathematics...

 and topology

Topology

Topology is a major area of mathematics concerned with properties that are preserved under continuous deformations of objects, such as deformations that involve stretching, but no tearing or gluing...

.

In topology, the Alexandroff compactification and the Alexandrov topology

Alexandrov topology

In topology, an Alexandrov space is a topological space in which the intersection of any family of open sets is open. It is an axiom of topology that the intersection of any finite family of open sets is open...

 are named after him.

Alexandrov attended Moscow State University

Moscow State University

Lomonosov 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...

 where he was a student of Dmitri Egorov

Dmitri Egorov

- External links :...

 and 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...

. Together with Pavel Urysohn

Pavel Samuilovich Urysohn

Pavel Samuilovich Urysohn, Pavel Uryson was a Jewish mathematician who is best known for his contributions in the theory of dimension, and for developing Urysohn's Metrization Theorem and Urysohn's Lemma, both of which are fundamental results in topology...

, he visited the University of Göttingen in 1923 and 1924. After getting his Ph.D. in 1927, he continued to work at Moscow State University and also joined the Steklov Mathematical Institute. He made lifelong friends with Andrey Kolmogorov

Andrey Kolmogorov

Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov was a Soviet mathematician, preeminent in the 20th century, who advanced various scientific fields, among them probability theory, topology, intuitionistic logic, turbulence, classical mechanics and computational complexity.-Early life:Kolmogorov was born at Tambov...

, about whom
he said: "in 1979 this friendship [with Kolmogorov] celebrated its fiftieth anniversary and over the whole of this half century there was not only never any breach in it, there was also never any quarrel, in all this time there was never any misunderstanding between us on any question, no matter how important for our lives and our philosophy; even when our opinions on one of these questions differed, we showed complete understanding and sympathy for the views of each other."

Alexandrov was an active participant in the political offensive against 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...

 which is known as the Luzin affair (1936).

He had a number of students, including Aleksandr Kurosh

Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh

Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh was a Soviet mathematician, known for his work in abstract algebra. He is credited with writing the first modern and high-level text on group theory, his The Theory of Groups published in 1944.He was born in Yartsevo near Smolensk, and died in Moscow. He received his...

, Lev Pontryagin

Lev Semenovich Pontryagin

Lev Semenovich Pontryagin was a Soviet mathematician. He was born in Moscow and lost his eyesight due to a primus stove explosion when he was 14...

 and Andrey Tychonoff

Andrey Nikolayevich Tychonoff

Andrey Nikolayevich Tikhonov was a Soviet and Russian mathematician known for important contributions to topology, functional analysis, mathematical physics, and ill-posed problems. He was also inventor of magnetotellurics method in geology. Tikhonov originally published in German, whence the...

. He was made a member 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 1953.

Some researchers speculated that he was homosexual.

Pavel Alexandrov should not be confused with Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov

Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov

Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov , and Alexandrov ) , was a Soviet/Russian mathematician, physicist, philosopher and mountaineer.- Scientific career :...

, another mathematician at the Steklov Institute.

Honours and awards

• Hero of Socialist Labour
• Stalin Prize
• Order of Lenin
  Order of Lenin
  The Order of Lenin , named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union...
  
  , six times (1946, 1953, 1961, 1966, 1969 and 1975)
• Order of the October Revolution
  Order of the October Revolution
  The Order of the October Revolution was instituted on October 31, 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was awarded to individuals or groups for services furthering communism or the state, or in enhancing the defenses of the Soviet Union, military and civil...
  
  
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour
  Order of the Red Banner of Labour
  The Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...
  
  
• Order of the Badge of Honour

External links

• The 1936 Luzin affair – from the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
  MacTutor History of Mathematics archive
  The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive is a website maintained by John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson and hosted by the University of St Andrews in Scotland...
  
  
• Lorentz G.G., Mathematics and Politics in the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953
• Kutateladze S.S., The Tragedy of Mathematics in Russia