Adolph-Andrei Pavlovich Yushkevich (russian: Адо́льф-Андре́й Па́влович Юшке́вич; 15 July 1906 – 17 July 1993) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

historian of mathematics The history of mathematics deals with the origin of discoveries in mathematics and the mathematical methods and notation of the past. Before the modern age and the worldwide spread of knowledge, written examples of new mathematical developments ...

, leading expert in

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

mathematics of the East and the work of

Leonhard Euler Leonhard Euler ( , ; 15 April 170718 September 1783) was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in ma ...

. He is a winner of

George Sarton Medal The George Sarton Medal is the most prestigious award given by the History of Science Society. It has been awarded annually since 1955. It is awarded to an historian of science from the international community who became distinguished for "a lifeti ...

by the

History of Science Society The History of Science Society (HSS) is the primary professional society for the academic study of the history of science. It was founded in 1924 by George Sarton, David Eugene Smith, and Lawrence Joseph Henderson, primarily to support the public ...

for a lifetime of scholarly achievement.

Biography

Yushkevich was born in

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

to a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish family. His father was

Pavel Yushkevich Pavel Solomonovich Yushkevich (russian: Павел Соломонович Юшкевич; 29 June 1873, in Odessa – December 6, 1945, in Moscow) was a Russian people, Russian philosopher. He was a Menshevik activist and participated as one of the ...

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

-educated

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and a

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

, active in politics as a

Menshevik The Mensheviks (russian: меньшевики́, from меньшинство 'minority') were one of the three dominant factions in the Russian socialist movement, the others being the Bolsheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The factions eme ...

who was in "ssylka" (

deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

) in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, and later in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. His uncle, Semen Solomonovich Yushkevich was a well-known Jewish writer. Yushkevich grew up in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and later in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

where he lived until

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

of 1917, when Yushkevich family returned to

. For a time,

Sofya Yanovskaya Sofya Aleksandrovna Yanovskaya (also Janovskaja; russian: Софи́я Алекса́ндровна Яно́вская; 31 January 1896 – 24 October 1966) was a Soviet mathematician and historian, specializing in the history of mathematics, math ...

was one of Adolf's teachers in a gymnasium. In 1923, Yushkevich started his studies at the

Department of Mathematics Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

. His doctoral advisor was

Dmitri Egorov Dmitri Fyodorovich Egorov (russian: Дми́трий Фёдорович Его́ров; December 22, 1869 – September 10, 1931) was a Russian and Soviet mathematician known for contributions to the areas of differential geometry and mathematica ...

, but he was awarded a Ph.D. degree without a

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

. From 1930 to 1952 he worked at

Bauman Technical University The Bauman Moscow State Technical University, BMSTU (russian: link=no, Московский государственный технический университет им. Н. Э. Баумана (МГТУ им. Н. Э. Баумана)), some ...

where he rose to professorship in 1940 and head of the department of mathematics in 1941. In the years 1941–1943 he was evacuated to

Izhevsk Izhevsk (russian: Иже́вск, p=ɪˈʐɛfsk; udm, Ижкар, ''Ižkar'', or , ''Iž'') is the capital city of Udmurtia, Russia. It is situated along the Izh River, west of the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. It is the 21st-largest city i ...

, together with the whole

. Starting 1952, he became a full-time researcher at Vavilov Institute of Natural History, where he worked until retirement. Yushkevich published over 300 works in history of mathematics. For his work, he received numerous honors, including

(1978), Koyré Medal by the

International Academy of the History of Science The International Academy of the History of Science (french: Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences) is a membership organization for historians of science. The academy was founded on 17 August 1928 at the Congress of Historical Science by ...

(1971), May Prize (1989) by the

International Commission on the History of Mathematics The International Commission on the History of Mathematics was established in 1971 to promote the study of history of mathematics. Kenneth O. May provided its initial impetus. In 1974, its official journal Historia Mathematica began publishing. Eve ...

, Prize of the

German Academy of Sciences Berlin The German Academy of Sciences at Berlin, german: Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (DAW), in 1972 renamed the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (''Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (AdW)''), was the most eminent research institution ...

(twice, in 1978 and 1983), and Prize of the

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

(1982). He was a member of several foreign academies, including

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded ...

, and president of the International Academy of the History of Science (1965–1968). Yushkevich died in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in 1993. He bequeathed his personal library to the Vavilov Institute.

References

* * I.G. Bashmakova, A.O. Gelfond, B.A. Rosenfeld, K.A. Rybnikov, S.A. Yanovskaya
Adolf Pavlovich Yushkevich is 60
(in

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

), ''Russian Mathematical Surveys'' 22 (1967), 187–194. * I.G. Bashmakova et al
Adolf-Andrei Pavlovich Yushkevich (in memoriam)
Russian Mathematical Surveys, 49:4 (1994), 75–77.
Adolf-Andrei Pavlovich Yushkevich
(in

). * Boris Rosenfeld
Memoirs
(in

). * K. Shelma, "An interview with Adolf-Andrei Pavlovich Iushkevich", in ''Voprosy Istorii Estestvoznaniya i Techniki'' (ed. by B.G. Yudin), Vol. 94, No. 1-2 (1994), 26–42. * S.S. Demidov, T.A. Tokareva
Adolf P. Yushkevich (1906–1993) and formation of the society of mathematical historians
(in Russian), in ''Proc. 6-th Tambov All-Russian Conference in History of Mathematics'', Pershin Publ., 2006, 9–28.

External links

* * * A.P. Yushkevich
The Lusin Affair

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yushkevich, Adolf 1906 births 1993 deaths Writers from Moscow Odesa Jews Scientists from Odesa Soviet historians Jewish scientists Soviet mathematicians Historians of mathematics Moscow State University alumni