Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko (russian: Бори́с Влади́мирович Гнеде́нко; January 1, 1912 – December 27, 1995) was a Soviet Ukrainian mathematician and a student of
Andrey Kolmogorov
Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov ( rus, Андре́й Никола́евич Колмого́ров, p=ɐnˈdrʲej nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ kəlmɐˈɡorəf, a=Ru-Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov.ogg, 25 April 1903 – 20 October 1987) was a Sovi ...
. He was born in Simbirsk (now
Ulyanovsk
Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population:
The city, founded as Simbirsk (), was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (bor ...
),
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
, and 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 ...
. He is perhaps best known for his work with Kolmogorov, and his contributions to the study of
probability theory
Probability theory is the branch of mathematics concerned with probability. Although there are several different probability interpretations, probability theory treats the concept in a rigorous mathematical manner by expressing it through a set o ...
, particularly
extreme value theory
Extreme value theory or extreme value analysis (EVA) is a branch of statistics dealing with the extreme deviations from the median of probability distributions. It seeks to assess, from a given ordered sample of a given random variable, the ...
, with such results as the
Fisher–Tippett–Gnedenko theorem. Gnedenko was appointed as Head of the Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry Section of the
Ukrainian Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU; uk, Національна академія наук України, ''Natsional’na akademiya nauk Ukrayiny'', abbr: NAN Ukraine) is a self-governing state-funded organization in Ukraine th ...
in 1949, and became Director of the
NASU Institute of Mathematics
Institute of Mathematics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine ( uk, Інститут математики Національної академії наук України) is a government-owned research institute in Ukraine that carries ...
in 1955.
Gnedenko was a leading member of the Russian school of probability theory and statistics. He also worked on applications of statistics to reliability and quality control in manufacturing. He wrote a history of mathematics in Russia (published 1946) and with O. B. Sheynin the section on the history of probability theory in the history of mathematics by Kolmogorov and
Adolph P. Yushkevich (published 1992). In 1958 he was a
plenary speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Edinburgh with a talk entitled "Limit theorems of probability theory".
Books
*
* with A. N. Kolmogorov:
* with A. Ya. Khinchin:
*
* with Yu. K. Belyayev and A. D. Solovyev:
* with I. N. Kovalenko:
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gnedenko, Boris Vladimirovich
1912 births
1995 deaths
People from Ulyanovsk
People from Simbirsky Uyezd
Members of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
NASU Institute of Mathematics
Soviet mathematicians
Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Recipients of the USSR State Prize
Historians of mathematics
Probability theorists
Burials at Kuntsevo Cemetery