Leningrad Geometric School


Leningrad geometric school is an area of modern geometry. The main characteristic of this school is the crossing of the frontiers of differential geometry. "Back to Euclid!" General metric spaces were used in 1930s-1960s for solving problems that were unsolved in classic theory of convex surfaces, and then in theory of Riemannian manifolds. Geometry "in the Large" and theory of generalized Riemannian spaces were constructed in the 1950s-1980s.

The school was created by a famous Russian mathematician Alexander Danilovich Alexandrov.

Contents


Alexandrov's Biography
August 4, 1912 - July 27, 1999


Photo: A.D. Alexandrov.1972

A.D. Alexandrov. 1972

A.D. Alexandrov was born on August 4, 1912, in the Volyn' village of the Ryazan' region. His parents were the school teachers. In 1929 he became a student of the Physics Department of Leningrad State University (USSR), from which he graduated in 1933. Then:

A.D. Alexandrov was a member of the Communist Party of USSR since 1951, and he is a supporter of Socialism in modern Russia. Among his pupils were members of the Communist Party and differently-minded persons (for example, his pupil Revolt I. Pimenov). A.D. Alexandrov as Rector of Leningrad State University offered a position to a former prisoner Lev Gumilev (a famous Russian historian). Twice he visited Vadim Delone (Delaunay) in a Tyumen' prison in Siberia who was a well-known antagonist of the Soviet Regime, and sopported the remacable Russian poet Andrei Voznesenskii when this poet was out of fovour.

His teahers were a celebrated mathematician B.N. Delone (Delaunay)(a student of an outstanding Russian mathematician P.L.Chebyshev (=Tchebyshev)) and a famous physicist V.A. Fock .

Photo: B.N.Delone

B.N.Delone

Photo: P.M.A. Dirac, L. Infeld, V.A. Fock

P.M.A. Dirac, L. Infeld, V.A. Fock

In 1959 A.D.Alexandrov and V.I.Smirnov founded the Leningrad Mathematical Society (since 1991, St. Peterburg Mathematical Society).

Currently, the Russian Academy of Science has three Members from the Leningrad Geometric School: A.V.Pogorelov and Yu.G.Reshetnyak.

Alexander Danilovich Alexandrov, the founder of the School, died on July 27, 1999, 4.00 (Moscow time).

Tree of Leningrad Geometric School

The Alexandrov's Biography and Photos

Another pages about A.D.Alexandrov


Main research areas of the Leningrad Geometric School


LGS has very good contacts with the Moscow Geometric School of Vladimir N. Efimov. In the West a similar geometric area is the school of H. Busemann (Poland-USA).

The geometric ideas of Alexandrov helped in brightening the talent of Viktor A. Toponogov who is a pupil of Abram Il'ich Fet and leads the Russian research in global Riemannian Geometry.


Novosibirsk and Chronogeometry


A.D. Alexanrov arrived in Novosibirsk in 1964. Here he began his research into the mathematical theory of space-time. He created a new area, Chronogeometry. A.D. Alexandrov and his students (see a photo below) found many interesting results. There was a special seminar on "Chronogeometry" (Russian, koi-8).

Photo:  A.D. Alexandov and his students. 1985

1985. S.V. Astrakov, A.V. Levichev, Yu.F. Borisov, A.D. Alexandov, V. Pustovilin, ?,
A.V. Shaidenko, A.V. Kuz'minikh, A.K. Guts, I. Mazmanidy (from left to right)

The list of west scientist working in a similar area includes A.A. Robb (1914), H. Busemann (1967), C.E. Zeeman (1964), H.J.Borchers and G.C.Hegerfeldt, J.A. Lester, W.Benz, P.G.Vroegindwey and others.


Address: Dr. Alexander K. Guts
Chair of Mathematical Modelling
Department of Mathematics
Omsk State University
644077 Omsk, RUSSIA
guts@univer.omsk.su - Click here to send email now!

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