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Lavrentiev, Mikhail Alekseevich. Biography Membership in scientific communities

In 1910–1911, he and his father were in Göttingen (Germany), where he went to school. He received his secondary education at the Kazan Commercial School, and after graduating he entered Kazan University (1918). He taught at Kazan University and worked as a laboratory assistant in the Mechanical Room.

In 1921, he and his family moved to Moscow and transferred to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University. While still a student in 1921, Lavrentyev began teaching at the Moscow Higher Technical School (now N.E. Bauman Moscow State Technical University), and continued teaching until 1929.

After graduating from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University in 1922, he worked at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI).

In 1927, he defended his dissertation for the degree of candidate of physical and mathematical sciences and was sent to France for six months for scientific improvement. Upon returning to Moscow (end of 1927), he was elected private associate professor of Moscow State University and a member of the Moscow Mathematical Society. I started teaching a course at Moscow State University on the theory of conformal mappings (transformations of space that preserve the magnitude of angles).

He is known as a major researcher in various fields of science: mathematics, mechanics. Doctoral degrees technical sciences(1934) and Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (1935) were awarded to M. Lavrentiev without defending dissertations. He also passed the degree of corresponding member - he was immediately elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (1939) and the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1946).

In 1931–1939 M.A. Lavrentyev taught at the Moscow state university. In 1931 he became a professor at Moscow State University. From 1934 to 1939 he worked at the Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. V.A. Steklova.

Works by M.A. Lavrentiev in the 30–40s were associated with the development of function theory.

M.A. Lavrentiev proved the existence theorem for solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations in hydromechanics.

In 1939, he was elected director of the Mathematical Institute of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences and moved to Kyiv.

Here he studied the theory of functions of a complex variable and its applications. In Ukraine, Lavrentiev’s research related to the mechanics of explosion was begun, and a scientific school was created. He taught at Kiev University, professor (1939–1941 and 1945–1949), from 1941 to 1945 – head of the Mathematics Department of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.

During the Great Patriotic War together with the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, Lavrentiev was evacuated to Ufa. Continued research in the field of explosions. He successfully solved a number of military engineering problems and participated in the creation of a domestic cumulative projectile. When studying the characteristics of cumulation, the phenomenon of explosion welding of metals was discovered, which was widely used in the future. In February 1945, he returned from evacuation to Kyiv and became vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. He remained in this post until 1948.

From 1951 to 1953 he was Academician-Secretary of the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences. For research in the field of the theory of functions of a complex variable and the creation of the theory of quasiconformal mappings, he was awarded the Stalin (State) Prize. In 1949 he was awarded the second Stalin Prize for his theory of cumulative jets.

Since 1948 he has been working at Moscow State University again. During this period, a new higher education institution was created on the basis of Moscow State University. educational institution– Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). At this institute, Lavrentiev founded a specialization in the theory of explosions and headed the department of physics of fast processes (1955–1958).

M.A. Lavrentyev was one of the first to realize the importance of computer technology and stood at the origins of the first domestic computers. At the beginning of 1950, he was appointed director of the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Technology of the USSR Academy of Sciences (ITM and VT), which was tasked with creating a high-speed electronic calculating machine(BESM).

In 1953 M.A. Lavrentyev was elected vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In 1955 he was elected to the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and from 1955 to 1957 he was again Academician-Secretary of the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

He was deputy chief designer of the Ministry of Medium Engineering. In 1958, he was one of the first to receive the Lenin Prize (for special topics).

In 1957 M.A. Lavrentiev became the organizer of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Novosibirsk Academic Town – unique project Academician Lavrentyev, who managed to gather wonderful minds in all scientific fields. Thanks to this initiative, strong scientific schools in almost all areas have emerged in Akademgorodok. He headed the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences until 1975 (then he was Honorary Chairman).

With the active participation of Lavrentiev, Novosibirsk State University was created. University professor 1959–1966. In January 1963, on the initiative of M.A. Lavrentiev, a physics and mathematics boarding school was created at Novosibirsk University.

530 works of M.A. are known. Lavrentiev (scientific and journalistic articles, reviews, reviews, monographs, textbooks, memoirs, etc.). Many of his students became outstanding scientists. He studied the dynamics of a nuclear explosion cloud and developed the theory of self-similar motion of turbulent vortex rings. Constructed new models of separated flow around bodies with an aft circulation zone. He was also interested in other problems: waves on water and extinguishing them with rain; the emergence and development of giant sea waves (tsunamis), fighting forest fires, preventing river pollution, construction ecology, advantages of various electronic computing systems, organization scientific research, teaching methods in higher and high school etc.

Works by M.A. Lavrentiev determined the course of world science in the field of mathematics and mechanics for decades. Through his efforts, the Soviet mathematical school was represented in the world, starting with participation in the International Mathematical Congress in Bologna (1928). In 1966–1970, Academician Lavrentiev was President of the International Mathematical Union. He was chairman of the Science Council under the USSR Council of Ministers. Academician M. Lavrentyev was elected a member of eight foreign academies.

At the XXII – XXIV Party Congresses he was elected as a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee. Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 5th–8th convocations.

For outstanding services in the development of science and organization of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1967, Academician M. Lavrentyev was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes. He was awarded five Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, four Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Patriotic War, the gold medal named after. M.V. Lomonosov, many orders and medals of other countries.

Since 1976 he worked in Moscow again. In 1976–1980 - Chairman of the USSR National Committee for Theoretical and Applied Mathematics.

He is an Honorary Citizen of the city of Novosibirsk. In 2000, he was awarded the title “Citizen of the 20th Century of the Novosibirsk Region.”

In the Novosibirsk academic town named after academician M.A. Lavrentyev's central avenue was named, and a bronze bust was installed. The Institute of Hydrodynamics of the SB RAS, the Specialized Educational and Scientific Center at NSU (former Physics and Mathematics School), the NSU auditorium, and Lyceum No. 130 are named after him.

Streets in the cities of Kazan and Dolgoprudny (Moscow region), mountain peaks in the Pamirs and Altai, and a research vessel of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences are named after Lavrentiev.

Established: registered Golden medal(since 1992, M.A. Lavrentiev Prize) RAS; Prize named after M.A. Lavrentiev Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Foundation named after M.A. Lavrentiev and a prize in Novosibirsk, as well as a prize for young scientists of the SB RAS, prizes and scholarships for students of Moscow State University, Novosibirsk State University, MIPT. Conferences “Laurentian Readings” are held in Novosibirsk and Yakutsk.

A memorial plaque was installed on the building of the Institute of Hydrodynamics in honor of M.A. Lavrentyev. The International Center for Minor Planets assigned the name Lavrentina to planet No. 7322 in honor of academicians Mikhail Alekseevich and Mikhail Mikhailovich Lavrentiev.

Sibiriad by Academician Lavrentiev

Lavrentyev Mikhail Alekseevich (1900-1980)

mathematician and mechanic, founder of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (SB USSR Academy of Sciences) and the Novosibirsk Academic Town, academician (since 1946) and vice-president (1957-1975) of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Published from the book:

"Creators": essays about people who wrote their names in the history of Novosibirsk. T.I. pp. 257-267.

Compiled by N. A. Alexandrov; Editor E. A. Gorodetsky.

Novosibirsk: Club of Patrons, 2003. – T.1. - 512 s.; T.2. - 496 s.

What was this man like, who, despite a painful revolution, two very cruel and destructive wars, as well as other dangers, achieved achievements that could be compared with the achievements of Peter the Great?

J. Leray. News of the French Academy of Sciences. February 1983

Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentyev is our Siberian heritage, although no regional framework is inappropriate in this case. An outstanding mathematician and mechanic, a brilliant organizer of science and education, Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of Lenin and two State Prizes, a gold medal named after. Lomonosov, a member of eight foreign Academies, vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences... Where can one become a relative of orphan Siberia...

But he himself annexed Siberia to his own destiny. Glorious - and indissoluble. For eighteen years, from 1957 to 1975, Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentyev headed the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The idea, implementation, and success of the Siberian academic project are inseparable from the name of Lavrentiev.

At a very advanced age, he took up a task of historical significance and scale. And he brilliantly carried out a youthfully daring and romantic undertaking.

The year of his birth is 1900. The year of birth of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences is 1957.

Would a second birth be possible without the first? The past has no options. And now Siberia is forever indebted to Lavrentiev for its unprecedented academization. And Novosibirsk is, without exaggeration, world famous in the scientific community. Comprehension of the Personality in academic history with Siberian geography leaves no doubt: time unmistakably chose a leader for an unprecedented act.

Or did he choose the right time to implement a completely idealistic project?

The more I thought and discussed with my colleagues about Siberia, the more tempting the idea seemed to be to create a high concentration of scientific forces there... By that time there were few of them in Siberia. Suffice it to say that to the east of the Urals, where about 10% of the country's industrial output was created, barely 1-2% of the scientific potential was located. At the same time, it was clear that the creation of a scientific base in the east of the country could not be solved only through the evolutionary development of the branches of the Academy - it was necessary to transfer large, well-established scientific teams from Moscow and Leningrad there.

The idea did not appear suddenly, not as an inspiration - it matured in the heads of people who were capable of not only thinking well, but also who were not indifferent to the fate of their country.

About thirty years ago, Academician Sergei Lvovich Sobolev described to me one of the initial stages of the emergence of an idea:

1956 Three young people in quotation marks, one of whom is 56 years old, and the other two are 48, in the dacha village of Mozzhinka, meet at one or the other’s dachas and talk about how to raise the scientific and technical potential of the Motherland. What needs to be done to transform it after the end of the war - and the second peaceful decade has already begun - into a powerful power that will grow and flourish worthy of its capabilities. We saw the path to this prosperity in the establishment of powerful scientific centers throughout our vast Motherland, so that scientific institutes got closer to local industry, to local resources. It seemed to us that we should be the ones to tackle this matter. We felt surprisingly young, although we considered ourselves quite mature people, and in fact, we all had some experience.(These three were academicians: Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentiev, Sergei Alekseevich Khristianovich and your humble servant). We decided to contact the government...

The mathematician Sobolev became an academician at the age of thirty-one. Almost twenty years before moving to Siberia. Author of fundamental works on the theory of differential equations, the theory of elasticity, the theory of nonlinear partial differential equations, functional analysis and computational mathematics. The author of the results, which are called classic.

Mechanic Khristianovich was elected a full member of the Academy at thirty-five. Brought him fame theoretical research and applied problems in the mechanics of liquids and gases, hydraulics, and aerodynamics. The methods of its solutions and calculations were included in textbooks.

The mathematician and mechanic Lavrentyev conquered the academic Olympus not so early - at forty-six. Probably due to a very wide range of scientific interests. Differential equations. Theory of functions and calculus of variations. Theory of nonlinear waves. Cumulation phenomena... A pure mathematician never brushed aside engineering problems; on the contrary, he believed that it was they that spurred theoretical thought. And he proved it with his own success. The degrees of Doctor of Technical Sciences and a year later - of Physics and Mathematics - were awarded to him without defending a dissertation. For completed research and solved problems.

Brilliant brains. Impeccable reputation. Excellent careers. Everyone is the creator of a scientific school. Each of them has considerable experience in organizational, administrative, and teaching work.

And what do these star people need in Siberia with its sad fate as a corrector of domestic morals?

Their voluntary move to Siberia caused (and is causing) a lot of misunderstandings: they exiled... they punished... they scattered the dangerous metropolitan concentration of freethinkers... There they were, away from the Kremlin, into those same uncomfortable latitudes that have long cooled the reformist ardor of sons dejected by the Motherland. And since there is a post-Stalin “thaw” in the yard, they are expelled from the capital not under escort, but under the beautiful pretext of socially significant asceticism...

But no, there is no documentary evidence for such interpretations. Not in the confessions of Lavrentiev (and he wrote his memoirs at the end of his life, when he had nothing to fear, and there was no need to please the over-evaluators of the past) and his associates. Not in the chronicle of birth and formation Siberian Academy– without government support, the pace and scale of construction of scientific campuses that are not fenced in the secrecy of address, subject matter, and results would be impossible. Not in the very atmosphere of the first years of the creation of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences archipelago - the atmosphere of festive excitement and genuine enthusiasm of the participants in the creation of a new Siberian reality.

There is more than enough evidence of this, but skeptics and cynics persist in their distrust of the high motivation for the voluntary move to Siberia of a whole galaxy of outstanding scientists. And this skepticism is probably understandable. Firstly, nothing like this is found in history (war does not count, not to mention hard labor and exile). Secondly…

From the memoirs of Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentiev: (late 1956).

Upon returning to Moscow, I went to A.N. Nesmeyanov (then President of the USSR Academy of Sciences - Z.I.) and told him about the Siberian plans. Nesmeyanov: “No one will go.” I named four, when I named the fifth, Nesmeyanov said: “What are you saying, but I considered him an intelligent person...

Here is another assessment of the future Siberian new settlers: if not slaves, then “fools.” What smart person would willingly rush from the capital to the provinces, against the mighty centripetal movement?

Psychological tasks in the formation of a worthy team of the first set were, apparently, not the easiest ones - Lavrentyev dwells on this point more than once. But he coped with these tasks superbly - he gathered bright, talented, famous people into the “founders”.

How? Is it only calls to selflessly serve the good of the fatherland? Is it just patriotic arguments in favor of the intellectual conquest of Siberia? Emotional faith in the righteousness of the undertaking?

From the memoirs of Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentiev:

For a promising scientist to agree to leave Moscow for Siberia? To many, this idea seemed completely crazy. Of course, this required a certain psychological breakdown. But I was deeply convinced that I would find like-minded people. After all, in Moscow there were many scientists who had obtained excellent scientific results, but did not have the conditions for the further development of their ideas. In Siberia, they could count on greater independence, receive people, premises, funds - everything necessary to realize their potential.

Here it is, the sought-after self-interest. You escape from the crowded crowds of the capital and give free rein to your imagination, hypotheses, guesses... (To Siberia for freedom? This has happened in history, but not with scientists, but rather with not very learned people. And the lack of educated people is heard in Siberian journalism century before last with an endless sad note).

Lavrentyev knew how to seduce his own kind. I myself experienced a feeling of dissatisfaction, which “grew” as new tasks appeared that rested on limited opportunities. Scientific thought was ahead of the development of established scientific centers. Many heads of research areas lacked rights, independence, and conditions for growth for students.

And all this was promised by the Siberian branch, which was to be created from scratch.

From the memoirs of Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentiev:

We proceeded from the fact that each institute must have an authoritative scientific leader, who will determine (at least in the first years) the face of the institute. In short, we adhered to the principle of creating an institute “for a director,” and not looking for a director for a planned (even good) institute.

The wisest move. The constellation of academic names provided Novosibirsk Akademgorodok with world attention already at the initial stages of construction.

In order for a fantasy project to become a real project, the idea had to be financially supported. That is, to have supreme patronage, to reach the level of a directive that guarantees the necessary resources.

Lavrentiev was always reserved in describing his visits to the highest offices. One can only guess what it cost him to “process” his brains, deformed by omnipotence. Or be content with the testimonies of your companions. Academician Andrei Alekseevich Trofimuk, for example, assessing Lavrentiev’s role in the creation of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences, stated:

I overcame resistance, skepticism, and indifference. All obstacles were overcome thanks to his exceptional perseverance, his faith in the idea, in the justice of what he started.

The result of this negotiation (negotiation?) activity of Lavrentiev was the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, adopted on May 18, 1957. In it, in particular, it is written: to organize the Siberian branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences and build a scientific town for it near the city of Novosibirsk... A happy accident or a natural predestination? Both. There were some subjective impressions.

A year before this decree, in December 1956, Lavrentyev visited Novosibirsk and Irkutsk.

In Novosibirsk, the Chairman of the West Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences T. F. Gorbachev received me very friendly, showed me his branch and gave advice to see the most interesting places for the location of the new Academy Town 20-30 kilometers from the city - almost virgin pine and birch tracts on the banks of the Ob and the future Ob “Sea”. From Novosibirsk I traveled to Irkutsk and visited Lake Baikal. Unlike Novosibirsk, the chairman of the East Siberian branch greeted me unfriendly. In addition, the chairman of the branch, the rector of the university, and local authorities believed that construction should only be done in the city itself. Thus, the scales began to tip in favor of Novosibirsk.

(What the children and grandchildren of those inhospitable owners of Irkutsk regret. That’s how it is - even the proximity of a unique lake did not win the future over to its side. The gloomy wariness of those who greeted us turned out to be stronger).

Lavrentiev’s mood, of course, meant a lot, but it was not the only thing that guided the special commission that flew to Siberia in 1957 to select territories for academic construction.

From the memoirs of Mikhail Alekseevich:

In Novosibirsk, the site for the future Akademgorodok was chosen unanimously. Here everything suited us: the proximity of a large industrial and cultural center - and yet a sufficient distance from it (so that the town of science did not dissolve in the big city, and retained its internal unity); the presence of the largest branch of the Academy in Siberia and its friendly attitude towards the project of a new scientific center; convenience of transport (a junction on the Trans-Siberian Railway, an airport with direct flights to Moscow; finally, the presence of a highway almost to the construction site). The wonderful natural conditions: soft terrain, birch groves and a strip of pine forest along the Ob...

In a word, and objectively, Novosibirsk had reasons for the preference shown to it. The growth rate is exceptional. Patriotic local historians love one expressive comparison. Kyiv took 900 years to become its millionth inhabitant, Moscow – more than 700, New York – 250, Novosibirsk – about 70. And from what did it come?

From the memoirs of Mikhail Alekseevich:

Today (at the end of the 70s - Z.I.) it is interesting for me to remember Novosibirsk as it was in 1925. It was a big village. The construction of city houses was just beginning. We took a sailboat and sailed along the low wind and waves to Berdsk. We had to row back, albeit with the current, and barely made it to the train.

In the morning we arrived in Biysk. The city is located in a basin, and in the spring, and often in the summer, the streets were flooded with meltwater. We encountered the first large puddle on the station square - the horse walked up to its belly, we and the things on the cart got very wet. A dialogue took place with the driver.

– It’s very dirty in your city.

“However, now there’s nothing, but a month ago a horse drowned on the main street.”

- We need to pave the street.

– We tried, but the pavement was drowned...

Funny? Not good. “How sad our Russia is!” But Lavrentiev (who, by the way, was born on the same day as Lomonosov, only with a difference of 189 years) saw in such a reality a boundless field for applying forces to improve it.

Novosibirsk won the competition for the role of the General Staff of the Siberian Academy. What should she be?

On November 2, 1957, at the General Meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Lavrentiev presented the “Siberian blueprint” to the highbrow community. The ideology of building academic Siberia is laid out in clear formulations of basic principles:

complexity (“if previously there were many rather closed areas, now everything is mixed up - mathematics has acquired a special role, but at the same time mathematicians themselves can no longer do without radio engineering, without solid state physics...”);

fundamental nature of research (“new institutes must be created to develop the most important areas of science and technology”);

attention to youth (“you can’t work without a constant influx of living new forces...”);

connection with practice (“all sorts of scientific achievement increases its value tenfold with rapid introduction into the national economy");

information base (“you can’t work without a good library. You need to quickly publish published works, and for this you need good publishing houses, a printing house...”).

He listed the first twelve institutes to be built in 1958-1960.

I focused on non-production construction - a detail that sharply distinguishes an academic project from many industrial ones. A quarry, a pipeline, a hydroelectric power station, a plant were built in Siberia “with shock”, but then they faced the everyday hopeless misfortune - nowhere to live, nowhere to give birth, treatment, rest, nowhere to have everything that is needed for a normal life. The Academy does not accept the practice of barracks and tent development of Siberia. Lavrentyev speaks of capital housing as “completely natural”, states that in cities “there should be everything - the House of Scientists, a hotel, a cinema, schools, nurseries...”

He completed the fundamental report in forty-five minutes - apparently, his many years of teaching experience had an effect! - and ended with a purely Laurentian passage that always enlivened the audience:

... having lived 25-30 years in Moscow, it’s a pity to leave Moscow, of course. (Laughter in the audience). Moscow is growing, Moscow is being decorated, Moscow has been and will be the center, and, of course, the most important institutions will be in Moscow, and without these main institutions it will be impossible to work in Siberia. But... I must say frankly that I still need to go! It's a big, big thing, and we have to go. We made a lot of mistakes, and we have some experience. And young people, no matter how talented they are, need us. If we don't go, everything will be very delayed. In order for everything to work faster, we need to go. And we will go, and our wives will follow us to Siberia... (Laughter, applause).

He himself decisively moved with his entire family and a group of young people from Moscow to Volchiy Log in Novosibirsk, instantly renamed by the cheerful new settlers to Golden Valley.

An act without which, quite likely, the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok would have become a typical long-term construction site for the country.

One of the first builders of the Town, architect-engineer A. S. Ladinsky, recalled:

Novosibirsk residents greeted the “academicians” kindly. They gave a large building in the city center, apartments in multi-storey buildings. But Lavrentiev remained true to himself here too. He immediately moved to the forest, to the Golden Valley, where, except for one forester’s lodge and three drafty barracks, there was nothing. He organized both his life and the life of his students here, and this, of course, greatly accelerated the creation of Academy Town. What did he do with his institute? (We are talking about the Institute of Hydrodynamics. - Z.I.). He waited impatiently for him, and when the building was ready, he divided it into exactly six parts, took one for himself, and gave five-sixths to others. Geologists followed his example and were the second to receive their own building. And after a year and a half, we had twelve institutes “living” on the Gorodok site. This gave us a huge advantage. We could build more schools, kindergartens, nurseries, and apartments. And the institutes, although in cramped conditions, were already working at full capacity.

At one of the meetings, high school students, already the same age as Gorodok (and the president of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences archipelago never refused children meetings), asked Mikhail Alekseevich:

– How did you live in the first years? Did you fly to Moscow for the night or go to Novosibirsk? After all, nothing has been built in Gorodok yet...

Lavrentiev liked the question. He answered, not without pleasure:

Yes, we had arguments about when to move to Siberia - wait until everything was built, or move immediately, live as best we can, but then monitor the progress of construction ourselves, and, if something happens, bother everyone - both local authorities and Muscovites . If we move right away, we can complain: we’ve moved, but we have nowhere to live, we’re freezing, there’s no water, build it quickly... Of course, I didn’t fly to Moscow for the night, and I soon stopped going to Novosibirsk. He lived in a wooden house like others.

If he had stayed in Moscow - waiting for the “Turnkey Town” - his wonderful idea might have been doomed to a quiet, inglorious death. But this time history made no mistake in choosing a Personality. And the Personality did not miss the historical chance to give real embodiment to the high ideals of serving the Motherland.

In the classic “what should I do?” Lavrentiev dispensed with the anxious and confused question mark. His memos to those in power remind tutorial: paragraph after paragraph - from stating “our shortcomings” to constructive provisions in the “What to do” section. In science, education, bringing the Academy closer to production.

He knew what to do and did everything he could for the good of his country.

“A hero of not our time” (with a sad sigh) was called Mikhail Alekseevich by a student of the NSU journalism department, having visited the House of Scientists at a photo exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Lavrentiev. And then - alas! - can not argue. But the university, which Lavrentyev cared so much about, successfully celebrated its fortieth anniversary and does not seem to be going to die (pah-pah!). It turns out that the children of post-Laurentian Siberia also inherited a good legacy from the hero of our time.

And the Town, having celebrated its forty-fifth anniversary, completes its first half century in working order. Despite the changes that are devastating for science. The Siberian creation of Lavrentiev and his remarkable associates resists destructive weathering. The foundations of the construction are sound. People of the third millennium also have something to learn.

At the end of Mikhail Alekseevich’s memoirs there is the following confession:

I am an optimist, otherwise I would not have taken on the task of organizing the Novosibirsk Academgorodok and the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences.

I believe that Siberia will be a land of harmony and civilization, synonymous with prosperity and industrial power.

The happiness of the Motherland lies in such active optimists. Have they transferred? Can't be. They grow up somewhere in the vastness of Russia, which is experiencing better times. And the intellectual and moral legacy of Lavrentiev and his comrades will help them return to their homeland the dignity of a great country.

Lavrentyev Mikhail Alekseevich is a Soviet scientist in the field of mathematics and mechanics. Mikhail Alekseevich was born on November 19, 1900 in Kazan. Mikhail Alekseevich received his secondary education at the Kazan Commercial School. After graduation, he entered Kazan University. Mikhail Alekseevich graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University in 1922. At the end of 1927, M. A. Lavrentiev was elected private associate professor at Moscow University and a member of the Moscow Mathematical Society.

That same year he was invited to become a senior research fellow at the Mathematical Institute. V.A. Steklov Academy of Sciences of the USSR. At the Institute of M.A. Lavrentiev worked for more than 25 years. In 1939, he was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR and director of the Mathematical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. Here he conducts intensive research on the theory of functions of a complex variable and its applications. Research by M.A. was also started in Ukraine. Lavrentiev in the field of explosion, a school was created, which is still working fruitfully. From 1941 to 1945 Mikhail Alekseevich was the head of the Mathematics Department of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.

During the Great Patriotic War, Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentyev, together with the staff of the Institute of Mathematics, worked on problems of a defense nature, solving complex problems related to the improvement of artillery weapons and engineering. Together with his students, he solves the theory of directed explosion, turning it from an instrument of destruction into an instrument of creation. In 1944, after long and painful calculations, Lavrentiev proved the theorem on the existence of a solitary wave. This study ended a dispute that had lasted for a hundred years between the leading mathematicians of many countries.

In 1946 he was elected academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences. For research in the field of the theory of functions of a complex variable and the creation of the theory of quasiconformal mappings, he was awarded the Stalin (State) Prize. In 1949 he was awarded the second Stalin Prize for his theory of cumulative jets.

Since 1948, he has again worked at Moscow University. During this period, a new type of higher education institution was created - the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, which played an extremely important role in training highly qualified personnel for new branches of science and technology that arose in the post-war years. At this institute M.A. Lavrentyev founded a specialization in explosion theory and headed the department. In 1950, Mikhail Alekseevich was elected director of the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Science. The institute created the first samples of Soviet electronic calculating machines - the ancestors of modern Soviet computer technology.

In 1957, Lavrentyev was elected vice-president of the USSR Academy of Sciences, chairman of the Siberian branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. At Lavrentyev’s proposal, a whole series of pilot production facilities and design institutes are being created around Akademgorodok. In subsequent years, the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences carried out major research in a number of leading branches of modern science and became widely known in our country and abroad. Fundamental scientific research of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences has found wide application in solving current problems development of the productive forces of Siberia, Far East and the European part of the country. In Akademgorodok, first specialized physics and mathematics, and then chemical boarding schools were created, and for children with design inclinations - a club of young technicians. With the active participation of M. A. Lavrentiev, a polytechnic college and Novosibirsk University were created with new system training of students, taught by scientists of the Siberian Branch, who directly create the science of today. The institutes of the Academic Town became the basis for student practice.

Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentiev - Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes, member of a number of foreign academies and scientific societies, awarded 5 Orders of Lenin, Order of the October Revolution, Order of the Patriotic War, 3 Orders of the Red Banner and many medals, he was awarded the highest award of the USSR Academy of Sciences - gold medal named after M.V. Lomonosov..

Works: Fundamentals of the calculus of variations. In 2 parts. M. – Leningrad, ONTI, 1935 (co-author: L.A. Lyusternik); Course of calculus of variations. M. - L., ONTI, 1938 (co-author: L.A. Lyusternik); Conformal mappings with applications to some problems in mechanics. M. – L., GTTI, 1946; Variational method in boundary value problems for systems of equations of elliptic type. M., Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1962; Methods of the theory of functions of a complex variable, 4th ed., M., 1973 (co-author: B.V. Shabat); Problems of hydrodynamics and their mathematical models. 2nd ed., M., 1977 (co-author: B.V. Shabat); Selected works. Mathematics and mechanics. M., Nauka, 1990.

I was lucky enough to live in the Novosibirsk Academgorodok almost from its very foundation until the present day, that is, for more than fifty years. Here, in Siberia, on the shores of the man-made Ob Sea, essentially all of my conscious life. And I consider myself very lucky...

The decision to create the Academy Town was made by the USSR Government in May 1957; construction began in 1958, and already next year the first buildings of scientific research institutes and residential buildings appeared here (the Institute of Hydrodynamics was the first to be commissioned). In subsequent years, over 20 more institutes, residential areas and Novosibirsk State University were built. During the Soviet period (1959-1991), Akademgorodok was considered a prestigious place to live.

Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Siberian branch Russian Academy Sciences (SB RAS) was founded in 1957 by academicians M. A. Lavrentiev, S. L. Sobolev, S. A. Khristianovich. Scientific centers of the SB RAS are located in Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Yakutsk, Ulan-Ude, Kemerovo, Tyumen, Omsk; separate institutes operate in Barnaul, Chita, Kyzyl. The SB RAS consists of 77 research institutions. Approximately half of the scientific potential is concentrated in Novosibirsk. Total number scientific works The number of employees of the SB RAS is about 9,000 people, of which 125 are members of the Academy, 1,926 doctors of science and 4,988 candidates of science, 1,952 employees without an academic degree.

Security officers or scientists?

How did it all begin? There are different versions here. One thing is certain: the idea of creating a “sharashka without barbed wire” in Siberia (as Akademgorodok was sometimes called before) was so atypical for Soviet times that at first glance it looked like a grandiose adventure. But only at first glance.

The fact is that almost the entire scientific life of the USSR at the end of the fifties was concentrated in Moscow and Leningrad. But then nuclear weapons already existed, and these cities on the American military maps were designated as strategic targets, which in the event of war they were going to wipe out from the face of the earth first. This, of course, was well understood by the members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and our generals. Therefore, an urgent question arose: how to protect at least part of the scientific centers working on the military-industrial complex in the event of a nuclear strike?

They say that the idea to “hide” science in the remote Siberian taiga originated with Lavrentiy Beria.

But even if this is so, it is hardly worth considering him as the author of the idea of Academy Town. The methods of Lavrentiy Palych are painfully well known. He would have found ways to send scientists to Siberia without much expense or effort. But apparently he didn’t have time. By 1958, the political landscape in the USSR had changed greatly, repressive methods were branded at the party congress, and Beria himself was no longer alive.

Stalin's times are irrevocably over, but the problem of a nuclear strike remains. And it became obvious that it was not the security officers, but the scientists who should lay the foundations of the Siberian scientific center. But as? After all, nothing like this existed in the country at that time. Fortunately for Akademgorodok, among the famous scientists of that time there was a man who became its founding father - Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentyev. Believe me, these are not big words, not routine pathos. Any resident of Academy Town will tell you the same thing. Lavrentyev was loved here and still is.

Academician Lavrentiev

Academician Lavrentyev was an amazing person. Precisely personality. For fellow scientists, he is, first of all, one of the greatest mathematicians of our time, the author of many fundamental works and the famous “Lavrentiev theorem,” which is included in all hydrodynamics textbooks. However, Mikhail Alekseevich managed to influence not only theoretical basis world science. By some unthinkable coincidence, he managed to have a hand in the launch of several key projects, which later largely determined the future of our country.

Let's start with the fact that Lavrentiev was at the very origins of the creation of the legendary Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), which later turned into the main forge of scientific personnel for the Soviet defense industry. At the dawn of the “atomic era,” he held one of the key positions in KB-11 (as the Arzamas-16 Nuclear Center was previously called).

You can also remember his role in creating the prototype of the current computer - the computer. How many of us know about this? Here is what academician Sergei Alekseevich Lebedev wrote, under whose leadership the first working model of a domestic “electronic computer” was launched in 1950:

“Times were difficult, the country was rebuilding its economy destroyed by the war, every little thing was a problem. And it is unknown whether the first-born of Soviet computer technology would have appeared if we had not had a kind patron - Mikhail Alekseevich Lavrentyev, who was then vice-president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. I still never cease to be surprised and admire the indomitable energy with which Lavrentiev defended and pushed through his ideas. In my opinion, it is difficult to find a person who, having met him, would not be infected by his enthusiasm.”

In order to eliminate all the obstacles preventing the creation of a computer, Lavrentyev even dared to write to Stalin. Agree, a risky step for those times. But the result was surprising: instead of sending Lavrentyev to Siberia, the author of the letter was appointed director of the new Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Science of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Yes, Lavrentiev managed to do a lot. But still, his favorite brainchild was our Academy Town. The idea is to build a city of Scientists from scratch, where science and education will feed each other, and everyday life will allow scientists not to be distracted from the search for new discoveries, which has long haunted Mikhail Alekseevich. Although it probably seemed almost impossible at times. And suddenly, at the end of the fifties, a ghostly chance to realize it appeared.

Houses among the taiga

Khrushchev liked the idea of hiding a powerful scientific center working for the military-industrial complex and inaccessible to enemy atomic bombs in the depths of Siberia. Formally, this was the starting point for the emergence of Academy Town.

Lavrentyev, whose ability to infect other people with his ideas we have already spoken about, quickly found like-minded people here too. Two of the greatest scientists of that time - academicians Sergei Lvovich Sobolev and Sergei Alekseevich Khristianovich - agreed to voluntarily go to Siberia.

There was also a fourth academician in this company - Nikita Nikolaevich Moiseev, but for some reason he changed his mind at the last moment about going to Siberia.

At first, the Siberian Academy Town was going to be built in the foothills of Altai, not far from the famous resort of Belokurikha.

This place had many advantages: the wonderful beauty of nature, cleanest air, heavenly microclimate, distance from the bustle of big cities. But there were also serious shortcomings. There was no sighting nearby railway, no normal airport, no decent roads.

Moreover, the list of arguments “against” was not limited to this. An entire city had to be built, but where in the Altai foothills was the construction industry, powerful sources of electricity or reliable means of communication? Of course, all of the above could have been created, but imagine the enormous amount of time and money such construction would require. It was necessary to look for a simpler option. And soon he was found.

At the time of the birth of Academgorodok, just thirty kilometers from the rapidly developing Novosibirsk, the construction of the Obskaya hydroelectric power station was just finishing. And there already were access roads, factories producing building materials, the necessary equipment and even construction prisoners (“the zero cycle” on large construction projects was then carried out, as a rule, with the help of slave labor) - in a word, everything that was needed for the construction of Academy Town. And Novosibirsk just lay at the intersection of all possible ways, and there was already some academic science in it.

In short, the site for Akademgorodok was soon approved, and in the middle of a rather wild, dense pine forest, the first buildings appeared - a hut for the family of Academician Lavrentiev and six more houses for young scientists who dared to exchange Moscow laboratories for the delights of the Siberian taiga.

From the memoirs of M.A. Lavrentiev: We received from the builders a beautiful, comfortable and at the same time modest city. Its main beauty is the forest, which is both around and inside the city. Builders complained that trees were in the way, but even full turns of tower cranes were prohibited to avoid damaging the trees.

Town phenomenon

Later, for the hut in which Lavrentyev and his wife settled, he received a scolding from Khrushchev, who grumbled: “They built a hut there, and Academician Lavrentyev settled in it. They say that he covered the windows with pillows in cold and snowstorms. This is how the academician began his life on Siberian soil! This is commendable, it is a heroic act, but it is unlikely that it was necessary.”

Nikita Sergeevich correctly noted: decent academicians did not behave like that then (and even more so now). The General Secretary did not understand one thing: Lavrentiev, in fact, was not carrying out a party task, but was building the city of his dreams. And therefore he could not do otherwise. Although, as Mikhail Alekseevich himself recalled at that time: “... living conditions were not easy, especially in winter. They felled dead wood, sawed and chopped wood, lit stoves, and carried water in buckets. Since there were no shops nearby, they created a commune to organize food and purchased everything they needed collectively.”

Academgorodok did not begin with a decision of the CPSU Central Committee, not with multimillion-dollar appropriations and foundation pits, but with a small hut in the Golden Valley. (This is how one of the academician’s students christened the place where they lived at that time; everyone liked the name and it stuck). From that very hut where the first settlers celebrated holidays together, sang songs, and on Sundays, when the dining room was not open, Lavrentiev’s wife fed lunch to the bachelor scientists.

Of course, Academy Town in its heyday had many advantages. And yet, in my opinion, its uniqueness is not so much the streets and buildings in the middle of the taiga or the well-provided standard of living for those times. And even (I’ll express a seditious thought) scientific discoveries, which happened here with enviable regularity... This is all just external signs. The main thing is the wonderful atmosphere in which we lived for many years, those human relations, which took shape here from the first days of the appearance of scientists in the Golden Valley.

Naturally, much more was important. For example, how wisely and quickly the Academy Town was built. Or the fact that it was here that academic dreamers were able to implement a completely new model of interaction between science and education: lectures at the university were given by famous scientists from research institutes of the town, and students from the second or third year ended up in research laboratories, where, together with the masters were developing real-life scientific problems. As a result, after receiving a diploma from NSU, they already had a good idea of what awaited them next; they did not start their scientific career from scratch. And it gave great results!

It is also worth recalling that Academy Town, through the implementation of scientists’ developments, recouped the costs of its construction in less than ten years. A phenomenal result, but I repeat: any material achievements pale in comparison with the cheerful and joyful atmosphere that was felt here, especially in the first years. If everything were different, it is unlikely that the new stronghold of science would be strikingly different from the rest of the rather dull Soviet reality. And it’s unlikely that my friends and I would invariably raise a toast on the red days of the calendar to our common destiny, which allowed us to be in the right place at the right time.

Force of gravity

Yes, we lived in a wonderful place. Firstly, almost all residents of Akademgorodok had most interesting work, to which they could devote themselves entirely. Secondly, almost all the “Gorodkovites” were family friends, and often one could see a note on the doors of apartments: “Please do not call - the child is sleeping. The key is under the mat." Thirdly, living conditions here were much better than, say, in Novosibirsk itself, where, just like throughout our “country of widespread shortages,” store shelves were empty. The housing issue was also resolved much more simply in Akademgorodok. It even happened that bachelors who received a separate room “gave” it to their newlywed friends, and themselves went back to the hostel. They knew that the wait for a new housing order would not be long.

All this, of course, greatly delighted the residents of Akademgorodok, but greatly irritated the party authorities of the Novosibirsk region. However, they could not change anything. Even at the nascent stage of the science city, Academician Lavrentiev managed to demand complete autonomy from local authorities: the Siberian branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences was controlled and financed directly from Moscow. They even say that it was not Lavrentyev who went to see the first secretary of the Novosibirsk Regional Committee of the CPSU, but the latter to him. I can imagine the reaction to these visits by the “first man of the region,” who had to endure such “humiliation”!

It is not surprising that the local nomenklatura did not like the idea of Academgorodok, it was inconvenient, and at the slightest opportunity they made it felt. Mikhail Alekseevich recalled how he had to fight to knock out the loads intended for construction. One day a completely comical incident occurred. Four ambulances were sent from Moscow to Akademgorodok, but they disappeared somewhere. And a couple of months later, according to Lavrentyev, someone suddenly noticed that the deputy chairmen of the Novosibirsk Economic Council were driving unusual cars. It turned out that the ambulances were repainted, the crosses were erased, and they were adapted to carry the authorities.

Nevertheless, the machinations of party functionaries did not seriously affect the development of Akademgorodok, and in the sixties it was already making waves throughout the country. Who hasn’t come here to see this miracle with their own eyes in the middle of the Siberian taiga! Feature films about nuclear physicists were shot here, and from here the science fiction writers the Strugatsky brothers, by their own admission, took away the image of the sorcerer’s institute, which we now know from the story “Monday Begins on Saturday.”

And what concerts were given in Akademgorodok by world-famous musicians (for example, Svyatoslav Richter)! By the way, it was here that jazz festivals were held for the first time in the country. The House of Culture "Academy" and the House of Scientists, along with the famous cafe "Molodezhnoe", which was located on Gorky Street in Moscow, are considered by many experts to be the birthplace of Soviet jazz. Was it really only jazz that was born in Akademgorodok?!

Signs of life

One can talk endlessly about how Academy Town came into being, what amazing people and events are included in its history. Well, take, for example, the largest scientific developments for which he became famous throughout the world. How many articles do you need to write to get even a very, very rough idea of them? A bunch of.

We have something to remember... Leonid Vitalievich Kantorovich, the only mathematician who became a Nobel laureate in 1978, worked in Akademgorodok. Here was the legendary club “Under the Integral”, which became one of the bright symbols of Khrushchev’s thaw, and the scientific and production association “Fakel”, which was closed during the time of Brezhnev, which made a splash throughout the country. Can you list everything?

One thing is upsetting: the brightest pages of the life of Academy Town are far in the past. What are the reasons? Of course, in the devastating events that the country experienced at the end of the last century. But not only. Even before this, Academy Town began to rapidly “age.” By the end of the seventies, the children of those who came here to devote their lives had grown up scientific knowledge. Then it suddenly became clear: the overwhelming majority of the new generation does not want (or cannot) gnaw on the granite of science. And there was simply no other work in Akademgorodok. Perestroika, the fall of the Iron Curtain, and the dictatorship of the market further aggravated the situation and brought it to a critical point. The status of the scientist has fallen to the lowest levels, and the majority of talented scientists, especially young ones, have left to look for their “city of the Sun” outside our long-suffering Motherland.

At one time, Akademgorodok almost even turned into a “dormitory area for new Russians.”

Wealthy, short-haired people with gold chains around their necks began to actively buy several apartments located nearby, unite them and, after a luxurious European-quality renovation, move their wives and children into these mansions. However, the wives soon rebelled: they were mortally bored in the “intellectual village”, where at that time there was not even a single decent nightclub. Life beckoned them big city. So the process of turning Akademgorodok into a “dormitory area for new Russians,” thank God, first subsided and then stopped altogether.

Another encouraging sign of the times: some scientists who went abroad have begun to return. Having traveled around the world, they realized: it is better to live here, and it is also better to do science here. The only problem is money, because the salaries that even world-famous scientists receive here cannot be called normal money.

However, as they say, the need for invention is tricky, especially if this need is with a scientific degree. Long gone are the days when our professors, receiving the salaries of local laboratory assistants abroad, were incredibly happy. Now every serious scientist knows what he is worth and is ready to be an “intellectual guest worker” for some time, but for very decent money.

Our professor will go somewhere to Paris, Lisbon, Tokyo or Chicago for five or six months, earn decent money to live there, and then return to Akademgorodok, to his home institute and do science there until the money runs out. Then history repeats itself: the scientist comes to an agreement with the director of the institute, packs his suitcase and goes “to the waste fishery” (this term has already taken root in scientific circles).

As for me, having traveled almost half the world, I have once and for all come to the conclusion that for me personally, our Academy Town, in spite of everything, was and remains the best place on earth.

LAVRENTIEV, MICHAEL ALEXEYEVICH(1900-1980), Soviet scientist in the field of mathematics and mechanics, organizer of science.

Born on November 6 (19 new style), 1900 in Kazan in the family of a mathematics teacher at a technical educational institution (later a professor of mechanics, first at Kazan, then at Moscow University). In 1910-1911, together with his father, he was in Göttingen (Germany), where he went to school. He received his secondary education at the Kazan Commercial School, and after graduating he entered Kazan University (1918). Greatest impact on Lavrentieva at Kazan University were provided by professors of mathematics E.A. Bolotov, D.N. Zeiliger and N.N. Parfentiev. Already here a noticeable bias began to show itself Lavrentiev to mathematics. He taught at Kazan University and worked as a laboratory assistant in the Mechanical Room.

In 1921, he and his family moved to Moscow and transferred to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University, and graduated from Moscow State University in 1922.

Still a student in 1921 Lavrentiev began teaching at the Moscow Higher Technical School (now MSTU named after N.E. Bauman), continued teaching until 1929.

In Moscow Lavrentiev entered “Lusitania” - this was the comic name of the mathematical school created around 1914 by the outstanding Russian mathematician N.N. Luzin (historically, Lusitania is a province of the Roman Empire, on the territory of modern Spain and Portugal, named after the ancient tribe that inhabited it - the Lusitani). Luzin's scientific interests related to set theory and function theory, which were intensively developing at that time. A characteristic feature of Luzin as a scientist and teacher was collective form conducting research that contributes to setting fundamentally new problems and finding new approaches to old problems. A galaxy of outstanding domestic mathematicians came out of the school (I.I. Privalov, V.V. Stepanov, P.S. Aleksandrov, M.Ya. Suslin, D.E. Menshov, A.Ya. Khinchin, S.S. Kovner, P.S. Uryson, V.N. Veniaminov, A.N. Kolmogorov, V.V. Nemytsky, L.V. Keldysh (elder sister of M.V. Keldysh), P.S. Novikov, N.K. Bari and others), among them is Lavrentiev. In 1923-1926, he was Luzin’s graduate student, engaged in research on set theory, topology (the science of the general properties of mathematical spaces that are preserved under continuous transformations), differential equations. First published work (on French) "Contribution a la theorie des ensembles homeomorphes" (On the study of homeomorphic sets) was published in France, 1924. His next seven works, completed in the period 1924-1927, were also published in French in Western European (mainly French) scientific publications - a common practice of Soviet scientists at that time. Since 1928 he published mainly in domestic publications.

In 1927 he defended his dissertation for the degree of candidate of physical and mathematical sciences and was sent to France for six months for scientific improvement. Communication with prominent French mathematicians Denjoy, Hadamard, Montel, lectures by Goursat, Borel and Julia, participation in seminars on the theory of functions became a good school for him.

Upon returning to Moscow (late 1927), he was elected private associate professor at Moscow State University and a member of the Moscow Mathematical Society. I started teaching a course at Moscow State University on the theory of conformal mappings (transformations of space that preserve the magnitude of angles). Since 1927, he took up the problem of approximation of functions of a complex variable, important for applications (more simple functions- polynomials), the beginning of his research on the theory of quasiconformal (close to conformal) mappings dates back to the same time, which was explained by the urgent needs of aerodynamics at increased speeds: the incompressible fluid model used at low flight speeds ceased to be valid.

In 1928, as part of the Soviet delegation, he participated in the International Mathematical Congress in Bologna (Italy) with a report on quasiconformal mappings.

In 1929 he became the head of the department and received the title of professor at the Moscow Institute of Chemical Technology. In the same year he began working as a senior engineer at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after. Professor N.E. Zhukovsky (TsAGI). He was attracted here by the head of the theoretical department of TsAGI S.A. Chaplygin. These were the years of rapid flourishing of aircraft construction and the formation of flight theory, research into the aerodynamics of wings, which affected further topics of research work Lavrentieva. It was from this period, which lasted six years, that his work began directly in the field of applied mathematics. He attracted his students to TsAGI, and then his colleagues M.V. Keldysh and L.I. Sedov. Into the circle of interests Lavrentieva and his groups included such sections of hydro-aerodynamics as the theory of an oscillating wing, the movement of a wing under the surface of a heavy liquid, the impact of a solid body on water, the construction of a flow around an arc of a given shape, and a number of others. The results obtained were subsequently used, in particular, in solving the flutter problem. A general method was found for solving the problem of flow around thin airfoils of arbitrary shape; It is shown that a wing in the shape of a circular arc has the greatest lifting force. Applied problems stimulated further research on the theory of variational principles of conformal mappings. In 1935 Lavrentiev published (partially in co-authorship) 16 articles and abstracts, a monograph in 2 volumes, and a training course program.

In 1931 he became a professor at Moscow State University, connecting his life with the university for many years.

Without defending a dissertation (based on a set of scientific works) Lavrentyev awarded in 1934 academic degree Doctor of Technical Sciences, and in 1935 - Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. In the same year he became a senior researcher at the Mathematical Institute. V.A. Steklov of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he worked for more than 25 years. Influence Lavrentieva the impact on this scientific institution is still palpable. From 1934 he headed the department of theory of functions and trained a large number of students who later became outstanding scientists, among them Academician A.Yu. Ishlinsky, Academician of the Academy pedagogical sciences A.I. Markushevich, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, academician of the Georgian Academy of Sciences A.V. Bitsadze. By mid-1930s Lavrentiev became the generally recognized head of the Soviet school of theory of functions of a complex variable.

In 1939, he was elected a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR (USSR Academy of Sciences) and director of the Mathematical Institute of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Sciences, and moved to Kyiv. Here he studied the theory of functions of a complex variable and its applications. Research has also begun in Ukraine Lavrentieva, related to the mechanics of explosion, a scientific school was created. He taught at Kiev University, professor (1939-1941 and 1945-1949), from 1941 to 1945 - head of the Mathematics Department of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences.

During the Second World War, together with the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR Lavrentiev was evacuated to the Urals and Ufa. Continued research in the field of explosions. Assuming that at high temperatures materials behave like viscous liquids, he developed the hydrodynamic theory of cumulation (cumulative effect - an increase in the penetrating ability of a projectile, discovered in the second half of the 19th century, with its special device, such that when a projectile collides with an obstacle, a high-speed (cumulative) ) a jet of powder gases and melt products of a metal shell, burning through an obstacle). The results of the research, including the most important one - the depth of penetration of the jet into the barrier, are given in the article "Cumulative charge and principles of its operation", 1957. He successfully solved a number of military engineering problems, participated in the creation of a domestic shaped charge projectile. When studying the characteristics of cumulation, the phenomenon of explosion welding of metals was discovered, which was widely used in the future.

Attention Lavrentieva I was also attracted by the theory of long waves on the surface of a liquid under the action of gravity. The obtained first proof of the existence of an exact solution to the propagation equations of a soliton (solitary surface wave) is given in the article “Towards the theory of long waves”, 1943, then in the article “Before the theories of long waves” (in Ukrainian), 1947.

In February 1945 he returned from evacuation to Kyiv and became vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR. He remained in this post until 1948.

In connection with the problem of sinking captured sea vessels, he studied the effects of an underwater explosion. He conducted an experimental test of the theory he developed at the academic base of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in the Kyiv suburb of Feofaniya. The formation of cumulative jets was discovered, which are formed when a cavity from the explosion products collapses in water. Published the work “Experience in calculating the influence of the depth of immersion of a bomb in a liquid on its destructive force”, 1946. The idea of using cord charges based on “wet gunpowder” dates back to the same period, which turned out to be a suitable means for laying trenches, for cutting metals, organizing directed explosions, etc.

Since 1948 he has been working at Moscow State University again. During this period, a new higher educational institution was created on the basis of Moscow State University - the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), which played an important role in training highly qualified personnel for new branches of science and technology that arose in the post-war years. At this institute Lavrentiev founded a specialization in the theory of explosions, headed the department of physics of fast processes (1955-1958). Was engaged in directed explosions. The results are presented in the work “On directional throwing of soil using explosive", 1960.

Researched equations mixed type, describing gas flows in regions of transition through the speed of sound, proposed using the model equation instead of the well-known Tricomi equation linear equation mixed type. In 1950 he published an article (co-authored with A.V. Bitsadze) “On the problem of equations of mixed type.”

In 1947, he made a report at a session of the USSR Academy of Sciences, “Ways of Development of Soviet Mathematics” (published in 1948). Particular attention was paid to computational mathematics and engineering. He called for the speedy creation of an institute of computer technology.

In 1950 he was elected director of the Institute of Precision Mechanics and Computer Science (established in 1948 in Moscow), whose chief designer was S.A. Lebedev, a specialist in the field of electrical engineering and computer technology, later an academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences. At the Institute, in the shortest possible time, the first samples of Soviet electronic calculating machines - the ancestors of domestic computer technology - were created. He headed this institute until 1953.

From 1951 to 1953 he was Academician-Secretary of the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences and contributed to this activity great importance, paid exceptional attention to the development of the main directions of science of that time, its specific connection with practice.

From 1953 to 1955 he worked together with the head of the Soviet nuclear project, Academician I.V. Kurchatov, and was deputy chief designer of the Ministry of Medium Engineering. In 1958 he was one of the first to receive the Lenin Prize (for special topics).

In 1957, together with academicians S.A. Khristianovich and S.L. Sobolev, he put forward the idea of creating scientific complexes in Siberia, in places of particularly intensive development of industry and agriculture. This idea was supported by a number of prominent scientists. On May 18, 1957, a government decision was made to create the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and its chairman became Lavrentiev. He headed the Siberian branch until 1975 (then he was Honorary Chairman). The Siberian branch has become widely known throughout the world and has established itself not only with a series of fundamental developments, but also with their application to the most vital tasks of the development of Siberia, the Far East and the European part of the country.

The Institute of Hydrodynamics (now named after M.A.) was the first to start working in the Siberian department. Lavrentieva, ISIS), the organizer and director of which was Lavrentiev. He has the choice organizational structure institute, its scientific problems, giving them both exploratory and applied character, determining an appropriate combination basic research with national economic tasks. He headed the Institute until 1976.

Supported by Lavrentieva B.V. Voitsekhovsky, V.V. Mitrofanov, M.E. Topchiyan and others at the Institute developed the theory of spin detonation (when propagating in a round pipe, the front of a detonation wave of this kind describes a helical line on the walls of the pipe).

In the work “On one principle of creating traction force for movement” (together with M.M. Lavrentiev, 1962) proposed a mechanical model (a flexible rod in a channel with rigid walls) to study the movement of snakes, fish, etc. He studied the dynamics of a nuclear explosion cloud and developed the theory of self-similar motion of turbulent vortex rings. Constructed new models of separated flow around bodies with an aft circulation zone. He was also interested in other problems: waves on water and extinguishing them with rain; the emergence and development of giant sea waves (tsunamis), fighting forest fires, preventing river pollution, construction ecology, the advantages of various electronic computing systems, organization of scientific research, teaching methods in higher and secondary schools, etc.

With active participation Lavrentieva Novosibirsk State University was also created (it was organized in 1958, the first academic year began in September 1959 with a lecture by academician S.L. Sobolev). The basis for student practice was the scientific institutes of the Novosibirsk Academic Town. He lectured at Novosibirsk University, university professor 1959-1966.

In the Novosibirsk Academgorodok, first a specialized physics and mathematics boarding school, and then a chemical boarding school, and a club for young technicians were created. Official opening The country's first specialized physics and mathematics boarding school (PMS) at Novosibirsk State University took place in January 1963.

Received the title of honorary citizen of Novosibirsk (1970).

Since 1976 he worked in Moscow again. In 1976-1980 Chairman of the USSR National Committee on Theoretical and Applied Mathematics.

He often visited abroad, where he gave lectures and studied the state of mathematics and mechanics. He was elected a member in 1962-1966, and vice-president of the executive committee of the International Mathematical Union in 1966-1970. Elected as a foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, Finland, the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (GDR), the Liopoldina Academy of Sciences (GDR), the French Academy of Sciences, a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, as well as a member of a number of other international and national scientific organizations.

He has written a number of monographs and textbooks.

For outstanding services in the development of science and organization of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences, he was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor (1967). Awarded five Orders of Lenin (1953, 1956, 1960, 1967, 1975), the Order of the October Revolution (1970), four Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1945, 1948, 1953, 1954), the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree (1944), and the Order of the Legion of Honor Commander degree (the highest award in France, 1971), medals.

530 works are known Lavrentieva(scientific and journalistic articles, reviews, reviews, monographs, textbooks, memoirs, etc.) Many of his students became outstanding scientists.

Lavrentiev, Mikhail Alekseevich. Biography Membership in scientific communities

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