Editing Mikhail Lavrentyev

{{Short description|Soviet mathematician and hydrodynamicist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Mikhail Lavrentyev
| native_name       = Михаил Лаврентьев
| native_name_lang  = ru
| image             = MALavrent.jpg
| image_size        = 250px
| birth_name        = Mikhail Alekseyevich Lavrentyev
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1900|11|19|mf=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Kazan]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date        = {{Death date and age|1980|10|15|1900|11|19|mf=y}}
| death_place       = [[Moscow]], [[Soviet Union]]
| nationality       = [[Soviet Union|Soviet]]
| fields            = [[Mathematics]]
| workplaces        = [[Moscow State University]]<br>[[Steklov Institute of Mathematics]]
| alma_mater        = Moscow State University
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Nikolai Luzin]]
| doctoral_students = [[Mstislav Keldysh]]<br>[[Aleksei Ivanovich Markushevich|Aleksei Markushevich]]
| known_for         = 
| awards            = [[Lomonosov Gold Medal]] {{small|(1977)}}
}}
'''Mikhail Alekseyevich Lavrentyev''' (or '''Lavrentiev''', {{langx|ru|Михаи́л Алексе́евич Лавре́нтьев}}; November 19, 1900 – October 15, 1980) was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[mathematician]] and [[hydrodynamics|hydrodynamicist]].

==Early years==
Lavrentyev was born in [[Kazan]], where his father was an instructor at a college (he later became a professor at [[Kazan University]], then [[Moscow University]]).

He entered [[Kazan University]], and, when his family moved to Moscow in 1921, he transferred to the Department of Physics and Mathematics of [[Moscow University]]. He graduated in 1922. He continued his studies in the university in 1923-26 as a graduate student of [[Nikolai Luzin]].

Although Luzin was alleged to plagiarize in science and indulge in anti-Sovietism by some of his students in 1936, Lavrentyev did not participate in the notorious political persecution of his teacher which is known as the [[Nikolai Luzin#The Luzin affair of 1936|Luzin case]] or [[Nikolai Luzin#The Luzin affair of 1936|Luzin affair]]. In fact Luzin was a friend of his father.<ref name="NAE">{{cite book|last1=Josephson|first1=Paul R.|title=New Atlantis Revisited: Akademgorodok, the Siberian City of Science|date=1997|publisher=Faculty Books|location=Colby College|url=http://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=facultybooks|access-date=20 August 2017}}</ref>{{rp|5}}

==Mid career==
In 1927, Lavrentyev spent half a year in France, collaborating with French mathematicians, and upon returned took up a position with Moscow University. Later he became a member of the staff of the [[Steklov Institute of Mathematics|Steklov Institute]]. His main contributions relate to [[conformal map]]pings and [[partial differential equations]]. [[Mstislav Keldysh]] was one of his students.

In 1939, [[Aleksandr Bogomolets|Oleksandr Bogomolets]], the president of the [[Ukrainian Academy of Sciences]], asked Lavrentyev to become director of the [[NASU Institute of Mathematics|Institute of Mathematics]] at [[Kyiv]].

One of Lavrentyev's scientific interests was the physics of [[explosion|explosive]] processes, in which he had become involved when doing defense work during [[World War II]]. A better understanding of the physics of explosions made it possible to use controlled explosions in construction, the best-known example being the construction of the [[Medeu Dam|Medeu Mudflow Control Dam]] outside of [[Almaty]] in [[Kazakhstan]].

==In Siberia==
Mikhail Lavrentyev was one of the main organizers and the first Chairman of the [[Siberia]]n Division of the [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] (in his time the [[Academy of Sciences of the USSR]]) from its founding in 1957 to 1975. The foundation of the Siberia's "Academic Town" [[Akademgorodok]] (now a district of [[Novosibirsk]]) remains his most widely known achievement.

Six months after the decision to found the Siberian Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences Novosibirsk State University was established. The Decree of the [[Council of Ministers of the USSR]] was signed January 9, 1958.<ref>[http://www.nsu.ru/exp/en/university NSU history] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903160040/http://www.nsu.ru/exp/en/university |date=2014-09-03 }}</ref> From 1959 to 1966 he was a professor at Novosibirsk State University.<ref>[http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Lavrentev.html Mikhail Lavrentev's biography]</ref>

Lavrentyev was also a founder of the [[Lavrentyev Institute of Hydrodynamics|Institute of Hydrodynamics]] of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences which since 1980 has been named after Lavrentyev.<ref>[http://www.hydro.nsc.ru/indexe.php Lavrentyev Institute of Hydrodynamics] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503010704/http://www.hydro.nsc.ru/indexe.php |date=2008-05-03 }}</ref>

Lavrentyev was awarded the honorary title of [[Hero of Socialist Labour]], a [[Lenin Prize|Lenin]] and 2 [[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prizes]], and a [[Lomonosov Gold Medal]]. He was elected a member of several world-renowned academies, and an honorable citizen of [[Novosibirsk]].

Mikhail A. Lavrentyev's son, also named Mikhail (Mikhail M. Lavrentyev, 1930-2010), also became a mathematician and was a member of the leadership of Akademgorodok.<ref>Fortune April 2, 2007 p.36</ref>

== Eponyms ==
* [[Lavrentyev-street (Kazan)|Street]] in [[Kazan]]
* [[Lavrentyev-street (Dolgoprudny)|Street]] in [[Dolgoprudny]]
*[[Academician Lavrentyev Avenue, Novosibirsk|Academician Lavrentyev Avenue]] in [[Novosibirsk]]
*[[Lavrentyev Institute of Hydrodynamics]] in Novosibirsk
*[[Specialized Educational Scientific Center|SESC]] affiliated with [[Novosibirsk State University|NSU]]
*[[Novosibirsk Lavrentyev Lyceum 130]]
*[[Research vessel|RV]] Akademik Lavrentyev
*Aiguilles in [[Altai Mountains|Altai]] and [[Pamir Mountains|Pamir]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{MathGenealogy |id=36441}}
* {{MacTutor Biography|id=Lavrentev}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080512231800/http://www.hydro.nsc.ru/person/Lavrentiev.php Mikhail Lavrentiev's biography], at the site of Lavrentiev Hydrodynamics Institute. {{in lang|ru}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavrentyev, Mikhail Alekseevich}}
[[Category:1900 births]]
[[Category:1980 deaths]]
[[Category:Mathematicians from Kazan]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Bauman Moscow State Technical University]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Moscow State University]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Novosibirsk State University]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Steklov Institute of Mathematics]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv]]
[[Category:Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute employees]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin]]
[[Category:Members of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina]]
[[Category:Members of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Moscow State University alumni]]
[[Category:NASU Institute of Mathematics]]
[[Category:Candidates of the Central Committee of the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Candidates of the Central Committee of the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Candidates of the Central Committee of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Second convocation members of the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]]
[[Category:Fifth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Sixth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Seventh convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Eighth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Ninth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Heroes of Socialist Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Prize]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lomonosov Gold Medal]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Soviet mathematicians]]
[[Category:Soviet physicists]]
[[Category:Burials at Yuzhnoye Cemetery (Novosibirsk)|Lavrentyev]]
[[Category:Russian scientists]]