Who is Mikhail Lavrentiev, what is known for, in what years did he live and what could he achieve? In the scientific world, they would immediately be told that he is an outstanding mathematician and mechanic, who devoted his whole life to this, and also created many works, was engaged in teaching and social activities and was proud that he lived in Russia.
Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentiev: biography
In 1900, the world-famous mathematician Mikhail Lavrentiev was born in Kazan. His father was a teacher of mathematics in a technical educational institution. Then Alexey Lavrentiev became a professor of mechanics at Kazan University, and then at Moscow State University.
Young Mikhail received his secondary education at the Kazan School, entered the State University in 1918, and two years later transferred to Moscow, to the Physics and Mathematics Department, which he graduated in 1922. After graduation, he decided to continue his education and remained in graduate school for three years. He completed his education by defending a dissertation and obtaining a scientific degree of a candidate of physical and mathematical sciences. After this, he was on a business trip to France for six months and improved his knowledge by exchanging experience with foreign colleagues (Denjoy, Hadamard, Montel and others).
From 1948 to 1951, after Mikhail Lavrentiev returned to Moscow from Kiev, he became head of the Department of Physics and Technology at Moscow State University. Later they realized that this faculty had grown to an independent institute, where a scientist put a lot of effort and even opened a specialization in the study of explosions in it.
The mathematician Lavrentiev made a great contribution to the development of electronic computers. In 1948, at the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Engineering in a short time the first computer models were created under the leadership of Lavrentiev.
Separately, it is worth noting the academic activities of the academician in Novosibirsk, where, thanks to him and under his leadership, the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences was created, which he headed for almost 20 years, starting from 1957 to 1975. A little later, the school of mathematics and mechanics was opened, where prominent scientists were invited to work, among whom were S.K. Godunov, I.N. Vekua, M.M. Lavrentiev, S.T. Vaskov and others.
He died in 1980, was buried in Novosibirsk at the Southern cemetery.
Lavrentiev Mikhail Alekseevich: family
Mikhail Lavrentiev lived for 79 years, in 1928 he married Vera Evgenievna Danchakova, who was a biologist, and together they lived for many years until a mathematician and scientist died in 1980. Two children were born in their family: son Mikhail, who became a mathematician, and daughter Vera, about whom almost nothing is known.
Teaching
At a fairly young age, the future scientist Mikhail Lavrentyev began his career as a teacher. While still studying at the university, he taught at the Moscow Technical School.
In 1927, when Mikhail returned from a business trip, he began to teach at Moscow State University, giving lectures on the theory of conformal mappings.
Since 1929, he became the head of the department at the Institute of Chemical Technology, and in 1931 he became a professor at Moscow State University without defending a thesis. He received a scientific degree on the basis of scientific works published, and a little later he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Technical Sciences, and then Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. In 1933 he became head of the department at Moscow State University, having worked there until 1938.
Thanks to him, the Physicotechnical Institute was formed, which used to be just a faculty at Moscow State University. The Institute trained highly qualified specialists for the branches of science and technology, which were developing rapidly. The principle of the work of this institute was transferred to the work of Novosibirsk State University, where the main task was to create a powerful personnel potential that will train future specialists.
Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR
In 1939, Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentyev, at the invitation of the director Bogomoltsev, moved to Kiev and was appointed director of the Institute of Mathematics, while teaching at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at State University. His work was interrupted during the war, when he was evacuated to Ufa, where he continued his activities.
In 1945 he returned to Kiev and continued his work until 1948, until he again moved to Moscow.
During World War II
Despite the fact that Mikhail Lavrentyev was in the rear, and did not fight at the front, he was able to help his scientific activities to win the war, trying to create new weapons. His task as mathematics and mechanics was related to military engineering, mainly with defense problems.
Explosion theory
The great merit of Lavrentiev during the war in the 1940s was the development of bombs weighing 1.5 kg with a large blast wave. So the attack aircraft could take on board up to 600 kg of bombs and burn through the tanks with several bombs, which helped to destroy the enemy faster and determined a turning point on the Oryol-Kursk arc.
The essence of the theory of explosions was that it was necessary to theoretically justify the strengthening of the local action of the charge on any obstacle, if there was a notch in it. Lavrentiev managed to explain the phenomenon, and he formulated a hydrodynamic interpretation.
Main works
Lavrentiev devoted much time and attention to the problems of explosions. In the 19th century, a cumulative effect was discovered (a projectile with a special device, colliding with an obstacle, forms a high-speed jet of powder gases and burns through an obstacle). The scientist studied this effect more deeply and considered that the main thing is the depth of penetration of the jet into the obstacle, this will make the explosion more powerful, as shown by the results of the study. Much attention was also paid to the theory of long waves, equations of a mixed type, and much more in the fields of mathematics, physics, and mechanics.
For a scientist, it was important not only to pass on his knowledge to future generations, but also to instill in them a desire to make his discoveries, which is why Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentiev spent so much time with schoolchildren and youth. The main works that have been awarded awards must be listed separately:
- In 1962 he entered the circulation "The variational method in boundary value problems."
- In 1965, a publication was published on the methods of the theory of functions of a complex variable.
- In 1980, a collection of articles on science and technological progress was published.
- Collaboration with Keldysh "On the movement under the surface of a heavy liquid."
Awards and titles
Lavrentiev Mikhail Alekseevich has received many awards for his life, including for his scientific work and achievements in the field of mathematics and physics. In 1944, the scientist received the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, since he did much to facilitate the process of conquering enemy territory.
In 1946, he was awarded the Stalin Prize for developing a method for solving non-linear problems, in 1949 he was again awarded this prize, but for studying and research in hydrodynamics.
He became an honorary citizen of Novosibirsk, since he founded Akademgorodok, and earned the highest award in France. Five times Mikhail Alekseevich was awarded the Order of Lenin and four orders of the Red Banner of Labor, once awarded the Lenin Prize, as well as a medal to them. Lomonosov for achievements in mathematics and mechanics, which is the highest award of the Russian Academy of Sciences and is awarded annually since 1959.
Social activities and impact on secondary education
Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentiev always tried to cooperate with other foreign experts, expanding and strengthening international relations. He organized symposia more than once, was a representative of the USSR delegation at various meetings and forums. And his authority in the international scientific world is confirmed by the fact that he led the International Mathematical Union for eight years.
Thanks to his labors, academic degrees and merits, Mikhail Lavrentiev was able to contribute to the development of secondary education, and many schools, including Novosibirsk, began to hold olympiads and created summer schools for future mathematicians and programmers. At NSU, the first specialized school of physics and mathematics was organized.
Memory
The mathematician Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentiev was awarded several awards of the highest importance, in addition, the streets in Dolgoprudny and Kazan, the avenue and the Institute of Hydrodynamics, a school at the State University in Novosibirsk were named in his honor. As well as a research vessel and mountain peaks in the Pamirs and Altai.
In memory of the academician, a memorial plaque was erected on the building of the institute, and a monument was also unveiled in the Academgorodok in Novosibirsk. It was created by the sculptor Paramonov, made of bronze and installed in 1988, although the city authorities considered the chosen option unprofessional and refused to sign the permission for the installation. But the monument was still made and installed, and the city authorities had to put up with it.
Finally
Mikhail Lavrentiev was an outstanding scientist and mathematician who, from a young age, showed a love for the exact sciences, including mechanics, physics and mathematics. Already at 25, he received an award for his work in mathematics, and at 27, his article was published in French journals of the Academy of Sciences, where he trained for six months.
At 28, he acted as part of the Soviet delegation at the International Mathematical Congress, and at 29 he became head of the Department of Mathematics.
He devoted his whole life to the study of sciences, and his students became famous scientists around the world. He wrote more than 500 works, and in many respects they determined for several decades the course of development of world science in such areas as mathematics and mechanics. But he did not stop only on these sciences, tried to understand natural phenomena, exploring the great sea waves (tsunamis), the causes of fires, and looked for ways to prevent river pollution.
Someone believed that at one time the scientist Lavrentiev was sent to Novosibirsk as a punishment for some wrongdoing in order to develop this region. But there were no such decrees either documented or in the memoirs of acquaintances. Without state support and a great desire to develop the eastern region, there would be no such scale and pace of building scientific towns, which today remain one of the main centers of science.