Boris Yakovlevich Bukreev (

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 ...

: Борис Яковлевич Букреев; 6 September 1859 – 2 October 1962) was a Russian and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

who worked in the areas of

complex function Complex analysis, traditionally known as the theory of functions of a complex variable, is the branch of mathematical analysis that investigates functions of complex numbers. It is helpful in many branches of mathematics, including algebrai ...

s and

differential equations In mathematics, a differential equation is an equation that relates one or more unknown functions and their derivatives. In applications, the functions generally represent physical quantities, the derivatives represent their rates of change, a ...

. He studied Fuchsian functions of rank zero. He was interested in projective and

non-Euclidean geometry In mathematics, non-Euclidean geometry consists of two geometries based on axioms closely related to those that specify Euclidean geometry. As Euclidean geometry lies at the intersection of metric geometry and affine geometry, non-Euclidean ...

. He worked on

differential invariant In mathematics, a differential invariant is an invariant for the action of a Lie group on a space that involves the derivatives of graphs of functions in the space. Differential invariants are fundamental in projective differential geometry, and t ...

s and parameters in the theory of surfaces, and also wrote many papers on the history of mathematics.

Biography

Boris Bukreev was born in Lgov,

Kursk Governorate Kursk Governorate ( rus, Ку́рская губе́рния, r=Kúrskaya gubérniya) was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, located in European Russia. It existed from 1796 to 1928; its seat was in the city of ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, 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 th ...

in the family of a school teacher. His grandfather was also a school teacher. His early education was at home and later he attended a classical Gymnasium at Kursk. In 1878 Bukreev entered St. Vladimir University that at the time was called the University of Saint Vladimir in Kyiv. The university was founded in 1834 and had a very strong school of mathematics. In 1880, Bukreev was awarded a gold medal by the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics as the best student. In 1882 he got his first degree and remained at the university to continue his training. At that time he worked on

Karl Weierstrass Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass (german: link=no, Weierstraß ; 31 October 1815 – 19 February 1897) was a German mathematician often cited as the "father of modern analysis". Despite leaving university without a degree, he studied mathematic ...

's theory of

elliptic function In the mathematical field of complex analysis, elliptic functions are a special kind of meromorphic functions, that satisfy two periodicity conditions. They are named elliptic functions because they come from elliptic integrals. Originally those i ...

s. This became a topic of his Master's thesis titled "On the expansion of transcendental function in partial fractions. After publishing his thesis Bukreev went abroad and took lectures of

Lazarus Fuchs Lazarus Immanuel Fuchs (5 May 1833 – 26 April 1902) was a Jewish-German mathematician who contributed important research in the field of linear differential equations. He was born in Moschin (Mosina) (located in Grand Duchy of Posen) and d ...

, and

Leopold Kronecker Leopold Kronecker (; 7 December 1823 – 29 December 1891) was a German mathematician who worked on number theory, algebra and logic. He criticized Georg Cantor's work on set theory, and was quoted by as having said, "'" ("God made the integers ...

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. Bukreev undertook research on Fuchsian functions under Fuchs' guidance, which he completed in 1888 and which became the basis of his doctoral thesis "On the Fuchsian functions of rank zero" defended in 1889. In 1889, Bukreev became a professor of mathematics at the St. Vladimir University of Kiev,

(now Kyiv,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

). During the 1890s Bukreev published a series of high quality papers including: "On the theory of gamma functions," "On some formulas in the theory of elliptic functions of Weierstrass," "On the distribution of the roots of a class of entire transcendental functions," and "Theorems for elliptic functions of Weierstrass". By the end of the 1890s Bukreev began to undertake research into differential geometry. In 1900 he published "A Course on Applications of Differential and Integral Calculus to Geometry". Although at this time his main position was in the

University of Kiev Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...

, he also taught at the Women's College from 1896 and at the Kiev Polytechnic Institute of Emperor Alexander II from 1898. He continued to teach at the Polytechnic Institute until 1926. He continued working at the

until 1959 and retired at the age of 100. He received a number of scientific and state honors during his life, including the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

and the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the ...

. Bukreev published a number of books which proved influential. For example, "Introduction to the theory of series," "Elements of the theory of determinants," "Course on definite integrals" (1903), and "Elements of algebraic analysis" (1912). In 1934, he published "An Introduction to the Calculus of Variations." His most important book on

was "Non-Euclidean Planimetry in Analytic Terms", which he published in 1951. Bukreev continued actively working in mathematics up to the very end of his life; his last paper was published when he was 98.

Family life

Bukreev married a daughter of Aleksei Aleksandrovich Kozlov (Russian philosopher, a notable representative of Russian school of

panpsychism In the philosophy of mind, panpsychism () is the view that the mind or a mindlike aspect is a fundamental and ubiquitous feature of reality. It is also described as a theory that "the mind is a fundamental feature of the world which exists thro ...

, and professor of philosophy at Kyiv University from 1884). They had three children, Tatiana, Nikolai and Yevgeny. His grandson, Kirill Tolpygo (son of Tatiana and Boris Nikolaevich Tolpygo), became a prominent Ukrainian physicist, corresponding member of the

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine 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 ...

Books

* ''A Course on Applications of Differential and Integral Calculus to Geometry'' * ''An Introduction to the Calculus of Variations'' * ''Non-Euclidean Planimetry in Analytic Terms''

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bukreev, Boris Yakovlevich 1859 births 1962 deaths Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni Academic staff of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Men centenarians Russian centenarians Russian mathematicians Soviet centenarians Soviet mathematicians Ukrainian centenarians Ukrainian mathematicians Burials at Baikove Cemetery