ICM'98
Russian mathematicians in Berlin in the second half of
the XIXth until the beginning of the XXth centuries
By S.S. Demidov
In the second half of the XIXth century Berlin became one of the basic
European mathematical centres and played an important role in the
development of the mathematical thought in Russia. In this period, it was a
tradition for Russian universities to send young scholars to the best
European scientific centres to improve their qualifications. In this period
such centres were German and French universities. The Berlin University was
especially popular for Russian young mathematicians of this time, the most
famous professor there was C. Weierstrass. Among his Russian pupils we find
M.A. Tikhomandritckii, S.V. Kovalevskaya, A.V. Vasil'ev, D.F. Selivanov.
Many Russians attended lectures of E. Kummer, L. Kronecker, and L. Fuchs.
The scientific community of Berlin stimulated the development of some modern
branches of mathematics in Russia, among them the theory of functions of a
complex varable and the analytical theory of the differential equations
(S.V. Kovalevskaya, P.A. Nekrasov, V.A. Anisimov). It was in Berlin where
we have to look for the roots of the Moscow geometrical school (F. Minding -
K.M. Peterson - D.F. Egorov), which determined, in many respects, the
character and special features of mathematical studies in Moscow at the end
of the XIXth until the first third of the XXth century.
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Last modified: June 19, 1998