Vladimir Andreyevich Steklov (January 9, 1864, Nizhny Novgorod — May 30, 1926, Gaspra, Crimea) was a Russian mathematician and mechanician, Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1912), Vice President of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1919–1926), and the organizer and first director of the Institute of Physics and Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A native of Nizhny Novgorod, he belonged to the St. Petersburg mathematical school founded by P. L. Chebyshev.[1]

Origins and Education

Steklov was born into the family of a priest who taught at the Nizhny Novgorod Seminary; on his mother's side he was a nephew of the literary critic N. A. Dobrolyubov.[1] His aptitude for mathematics and physics became apparent while he was still a student at the Nizhny Novgorod Institute for the Nobility (according to other sources, the Alexander Institute).[2][3] In 1882 he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at Moscow University, but his studies there went poorly, and in 1883 he transferred to Kharkov University.[4] There, in his third year, he met A. M. Lyapunov, whose lectures determined his scientific vocation.[2]

Scientific and Teaching Career

After graduating from Kharkov University in 1887, Steklov was retained as a fellowship student at the Department of Mechanics, and from 1891 he taught with the rank of privatdozent. In 1894 he defended his master's thesis, "On the Motion of a Rigid Body in a Fluid," and in 1902 his doctoral dissertation, "General Methods for Solving the Fundamental Problems of Mathematical Physics." From 1896 he was an associate professor in the Department of Mechanics; from 1894 to 1905 he also taught mechanics at the Kharkov Institute of Technology. From 1902 to 1906 he headed the Kharkov Mathematical Society and served as dean of the mathematics faculty at Kharkov University.[3]

In 1906 Steklov moved to St. Petersburg (Petrograd) University, where he worked as a professor until 1919. He became an adjunct in 1910 and a full member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1912. After the revolution he became one of the active participants in the transformation of the Imperial Academy of Sciences into the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and from 1919 until the end of his life he held the post of its vice president.[2][4]

Steklov's principal works belong to mathematical physics, the theory of differential equations, hydrodynamics, potential theory, and the theory of heat conduction. He gave a complete theoretical foundation for the problems of heat propagation in a nonuniform rod and the vibrations of a nonuniform string, obtained results on the Dirichlet and Neumann problems, created the theory of closure of orthogonal systems of functions, and introduced a special method of smoothing functions — the so-called Steklov functions. In hydrodynamics, he studied the motion of a rigid body in a fluid, vortex theory, and the motion of a body with an ellipsoidal cavity filled with fluid.[4]

The Physics and Mathematics Institute and Its Successors

In 1921, together with A. F. Ioffe and A. N. Krylov, Steklov was one of the initiators of the creation of the Physics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and was elected its director. After the institute was split into the Mathematical and Physical Institutes, Steklov's name was given to the Mathematical Institute. Independent institutions later grew out of it; two of them — the V. A. Steklov Institute of Mathematics (Moscow) and its Saint Petersburg Branch — bear the scholar's name to this day.[1][4]

In the difficult years after the Revolution, Steklov organized the publication of scientific works and the purchase of foreign books and equipment, and worked on restoring the country's seismic network.[2] He died on May 30, 1926, in Gaspra (Crimea) and was buried in Saint Petersburg.[2]

Nizhny Novgorod Roots

Nizhny Novgorod is Steklov's birthplace. His childhood and school years were spent here: the future academician studied at the local Institute for the Nobility (the Alexander Institute), where his mathematical abilities first showed themselves.[4][3] His family was closely tied to the city's cultural life: his father taught at the Nizhny Novgorod Seminary, and his maternal uncle, N. A. Dobrolyubov, was one of the best-known natives of Nizhny Novgorod in Russian literary criticism.[1]

References

  • Wikidata (Q559188 — entry in the free knowledge base)
  • VIAF (808572 — Virtual International Authority File, a union library index)
  • ISNI (0000000108620915)
  • GND (118798650 — catalog of the German National Library)

Sources

  1. idea.vrnlib.ru — Steklov Vladimir Andreyevich
  2. cyclowiki.org — Steklov, Vladimir Andreyevich — Cyclowiki
  3. e-heritage.ru — E-Library "Scientific Heritage of Russia"
  4. rus.team — 160th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Steklov (January 9, 2024)