No label defined (Q4950103)

Much of this article lists names and also names, the great names of Russian and Soviet mathematics of the period 1910-1980. The rise of the school comes from people, first Dmitri Egorov, then his student Nikolai Lusin (Luzin); they are persecuted and effectively removed, but their legacy continues with the youth they educated: Pavel Alexandrov (Aleksandrov), Dmitri Men'shov, Alexander Khinchin, then Kolmogorov and Gelfand. These people in the 1930s and beyond had ideas, attitudes, and youth. They did not stifle or control, and the school gained breadth and depth -- the lists are long, the list of topics wide. Lusin had the teaching talent, an ability to discover the new, the vision to see through the accidental to the essential, and a realization of his limitations. The 1930s saw the death of Egorov in prison and the banishment of Lusin from the University and the Soviet Academy - many of his students did not defend him. Kolmogorov was a student of Lusin's, Gelfand Lusin's academic grandson. They carried the school from the 1930s to the 1970s. The list of their students is very long and famous. The key to their success can be summed up in two: Kolmogorov's ideas came from his teaching, his reading and preparation for lectures, and ideas then flowed; Gelfand's success is based on his interaction with his students and joint work with them. They were interested in mathematics and people. This article should be read in conjunction with Vladimir Arnold's reply to the question as to why Russian science was so brilliant [cf. The Arnoldfest, Fields Inst. Commun. 24, 39-54 (1999; Zbl 0946.01011)]. For the entire collection see [Zbl 0942.00019].