The fate of this mathematician was not simple and very interesting. At the age of 13, the future scientist lost his sight. This did not stop him from making a number of important discoveries in mathematics. Lev Semenovich Pontryagin was awarded the USSR State Prize, as well as many other awards. His merits are recognized throughout the world.
The origin of Pontryagin
Lev Semenovich Pontryagin (1908-1988) was born on August 21, 1908 in Moscow, in the family of an employee, by profession a bookkeeper. In 1916, the future scientist began to receive secondary education. Lev Semenovich Pontryagin later began to comprehend the basics of science due to the fact that his family was not rich. She was not able to pay for Leo’s training in the gymnasium (his father was mobilized by an ordinary soldier in the army).
Schooling, vision loss
Lev Semenovich Pontryagin in 1917 moved to a nine-year high school, at that time common to all. In those years, the choice of profession did not interest him. The future scientist did not show a special inclination for mathematics. When the boy was 13 years old, a Primus explosion occurred in his house. As a result of the accident, Lev Semenovich Pontryagin completely lost his sight. His childhood, presumably, was not easy after this event. His mother, Tatyana Andreevna (she worked as a dressmaker), became in fact the secretary of her son for many years. Lev Semenovich Pontryagin in the ninth grade became interested in mathematics. He used articles from encyclopedic dictionaries as a source of information. It was then that the future scientist decided to graduate in mathematics. Despite the difficulties associated with the loss of vision, he managed to implement his plan.
University studies
Pontryagin entered the Moscow State University, Faculty of Physics and Mathematics (specialty - "pure mathematics"). He graduated in 1929. Then Lev Semenovich continued his studies in graduate school, enrolling in the research institute of mathematics and mechanics functioning at the Moscow State University. He graduated from graduate school in 1931. The teacher of Lev Semenovich was P.S. Aleksandrov. Pontryagin for many years was under his enormous personal charm.
Scientific career
Lev Semenovich from 1930 to 1932 was an assistant professor of the Department of Algebra, as well as an employee of the Research Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics. In the years 1932-1933. He was an employee and laboratory of oscillations located at Moscow State University (belongs to the Institute of Physics). A mathematician from 1934 until the end of his life taught at Moscow State University. In 1934 he was an acting professor, and in 1935-1938 - a professor in the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics. In 1970-1988 Pontryagin headed one of the departments of the faculty of computational mathematics and cybernetics. In 1935, without defending a dissertation, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Physics and Mathematics. In the same year, Pontryagin received the title of professor.
From 1934 to the end of his days, Lev Semenovich worked at the Steklov Mathematical Institute. Between 1934 and 1939 he was a senior research fellow here. For twenty years (1939-1959) Pontryagin served as the head of the Department of Topology and Geometry. Since 1972, a mathematician also worked at VINITI, where until 1988 he was a senior research fellow. Lev Semenovich was a member of the editorial board of the journal "Mathematics" from 1974 to 1980.
Pontryagin Achievements
The main areas of scientific interest of Pontryagin are topological algebra and topology, control theory and theory of differential equations. In 1932, Lev Semenovich, developing the duality law proposed by Alexander, proved this law, which in Euclidean space connects Betti groups of a closed bounded arbitrary set with Betti groups of a closed additional set. Pontryagin solved the problem of calculating Betty groups.
Lev Semenovich is the creator of topological algebra. His main achievements relate to locally compact and commutative compact groups. The scientist studied their structure, and also conducted a harmonic analysis. Along with research on topological duality and character theory, Pontryagin carried out two cycles of work - on homotopy theory and dimension theory. The scientist proved (independently of Nebeling, a German mathematician, and at the same time) the well-known theorem that any n-dimensional compact set with respect to a set that lies in a Euclidean (2n + 1) -dimensional set is homeomorphic.
From 1935 to 1940, the scientist wrote a number of works on the theory of skew products and homotopy theory. Pontryagin discovered a connection between problems devoted to smooth manifolds and homotopy problems. He discovered the characteristic classes of L. S. Pontryagin, which are invariants of smooth manifolds.
Works on the theory of differential equations and games
Since the beginning of the 1950s, Lev Semenovich became interested in the theory of differential equations. He performed two cycles of work in this area. The first of them is about singular perturbations, and the second is connected with the theory of optimal processes in mathematics. It is Lev Semenovich who is considered the creator of this theory. It is based on the maximum principle of L. S. Pontryagin. His discovery was the most significant result of the study of optimal processes. The scientist we are interested in has obtained fundamental results in such a field as the theory of differential games. They made a great contribution to the theory of optimal control.
Recognition of merit
In total, the scientist wrote about three hundred scientific papers. Using the theory created by Lev Semenovich, scientists find the most profitable electric drive schemes, determine the most effective fuel consumption programs, etc.
The merits of Lev Semenovich are not in doubt. They were recognized not only by the Russian, but also by the world scientific community. The scientist was invited to participate in prestigious conferences, he was awarded all kinds of prizes, including the USSR State Prize, and many high awards. For some time, Pontryagin was one of the leaders of the International Mathematical Union, or rather, its vice president.
Social work
It should be noted that Lev Semenovich always longed to participate in public life. He was a mathematician, and also blind, so he could easily evade social activities. Especially when it became unsafe. However, Leo Semenovich did not notice the impending danger. He often argued and expressed aloud what he thought was right. However, he did not look at the ranks and ranks. Lev Semenovich always demanded complete openness and clarity in relations between colleagues. In his activities, he followed the dictates of conscience, often neglecting false ideas about subordination and hierarchy in the scientific world, as well as corporate interests. The scientist considered it his duty to intervene in socially significant events in the state, starting with the reform of school education and ending with the project for turning rivers in Siberia.
The conflict in which Pontryagin was involved
In connection with the foregoing, it is not surprising that the mathematician Lev Semenovich Pontryagin made many enemies who, taking advantage of the opportunity, began to violently attack the academician. The intensification of the Zionist movement in 1967, after the Arab-Israeli war, was the direct cause of the attacks. The USSR adhered to an active pro-slavish position. Pontryagin became the main enemy for the Zionists, who had significant influence in the United States, as well as in other Western states.
Among the directions of the struggle with the Soviet Union was the struggle with the science of the USSR, since in it, as you know, the proportion of Jews was always slightly higher than the proportion of representatives of other nationalities. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the Soviet government prevented the emigration of science workers who had secret information. In the center of the conflict between the Soviet Union and the Zionists in the 1970s, Pontryagin unexpectedly appeared.
Oblivion and rehabilitation
When the time came, Lev Semenovich became the most suitable figure for the post of leading anti-Semite among the mathematicians of our country. In public opinion, a stereotype about Pontryagin’s anti-Semitic sentiment developed over time. This was the reason for the resignation of the scientist from the post of president of the Mathematical Union. The Lenin Prize laureate stopped receiving invitations to participate in conferences, and they tried not to mention his name, even when telling about his main achievements. After 1991, the stereotype associated with the academician's anti-Semitism became very common in Russia. Only in recent years, thanks to the efforts of a number of scientists, the figure of Leo Semenovich was rehabilitated.
Book of memories
Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences L. S. Pontryagin wrote a very interesting book of memoirs, from which you can find out details from the history of mathematics in the USSR in the second half of the 20th century. This book presents the figures of many talented scientists - Kolmogorov, Alexandrov, Luzin and others. It contains quite a lot of intimate revelations, as well as descriptions of a rather complicated personal life of Lev Semenovich. In addition, the scientist tells in it about some features of his own scientific thinking. The scientist writes about how he solved the most complicated tasks “in the mind” without using any means of visualization. However, the most important thing, perhaps, is that the scientist’s memoirs give us all an example of great vitality and perseverance, the inexhaustible resources of the human brain, which we use only to an insignificant degree.
Scientific School of Lev Semenovich
Fate set the hardest test on the life path of Pontryagin - he lost his sight. However, this did not prevent the scientist from getting a higher education, and then successfully engaged in mathematics all his life. In this science he has achieved great success. With all his work Lev Semenovich contributed to the development of mathematics in our country and around the world. He is the founder of a scientific school, which significantly influenced the development of control theory and calculus of variations. In mathematical terminology, there are many terms bearing the name of this scientist - Pontryagin's law, Pontryagin surface, Pontryagin space, etc.
Lev Semenovich was an outstanding teacher. Students noted that his lectures were distinguished by accuracy of presentation and clarity. The scientist instilled these qualities into his many students.
On May 3, 1988, Lev Semenovich Pontryagin died in Moscow. His biography to this day inspires many scientists, as well as people far from science.