Konstantin Adolfovic Semendyayev or Semendyaev (Russian: , German: ); born 9 December 1908 in Simferopol, died 15 November 1988) was a Russian engineer and applied

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 ...

. He worked in the department of

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...

of the

Steklov Institute Steklov Institute of Mathematics or Steklov Mathematical Institute (russian: Математический институт имени В.А.Стеклова) is a premier research institute based in Moscow, specialized in mathematics, and a part o ...

in Moscow. He carried out pioneering work in the area of numerical

weather forecasting Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology forecasting, to predict the conditions of the Earth's atmosphere, atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia a ...

in Russia.

Work and life

Semendyayev studied at the

Lomonosov 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 ...

with the degree in 1929 and was then at various higher schools. From 1931 to 1936 he was in the Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics at Lomonosov University. He habilitated in 1940 (Russian doctorate). From 1936 he headed the Department of Mathematical Instruments of the

USSR Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

. He was evacuated to

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

with the institute during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After World War II, he headed a department for numerical calculations at the

in Moscow and, when the Institute for Applied Mathematics at the Steklov Institute was founded in 1953, his group became the Department of Gas Dynamics. In 1961, he became deputy head of the Institute for Applied Mathematics. In 1963, he went to the Hydrometeorological Center of the USSR, where he led the programming work. He also supported the teaching of applied mathematics at various Moscow educational institutions. Semendyayev is known as the co-author of a handbook of mathematics for engineers and students of technical universities, which he wrote together with Ilya Nikolaevich Bronshtein around the 1939/1940 timeframe. Hot lead typesetting for the work had already started when the

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet city of L ...

prohibited further development and the print matrices were relocated. After the war, they were first considered lost, but could be found again years later, so that the first edition of could finally be published in 1945. This was a major success and went through eleven editions in Russia and was translated into various languages, including German and English, until the publisher Nauka planned to replace it with a translation of the American

Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers Theresa Marie Korn (née McLaughlin, November 5, 1926 – April 9, 2020) was an American engineer, radio enthusiast, and airplane pilot. The first woman to earn an engineering degree from what is now Carnegie Mellon University, she was the autho ...

by Granino and Theresa M. Korn in 1968. However, in a parallel development starting in 1970, the so called "

Bronshtein and Semendyayev ''Bronshtein and Semendyayev'' (often just ''Bronshtein'' or ''Bronstein'', sometimes ''BS'') is the informal name of a comprehensive handbook of fundamental working knowledge of mathematics and table of formulas originally compiled by the Rus ...

" (BS), which had been translated into German in 1958, underwent a major overhaul by a team of East-German authors around Günter Grosche, Viktor & Dorothea Ziegler (of

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

), to which Semendyayev contributed as well (a section on computer systems and numerical

harmonic analysis Harmonic analysis is a branch of mathematics concerned with the representation of Function (mathematics), functions or signals as the Superposition principle, superposition of basic waves, and the study of and generalization of the notions of Fo ...

). This was published in 1979 and spawned translations into many other languages as well, including a retranslation into Russian and an English edition. In 1986, the 13th Russian edition was published. The German ' Wende' and the later

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governm ...

led to considerable changes in the publishing environment in Germany between 1989 and 1991, which eventually resulted in two independent German publishing branches by

Eberhard Zeidler Eberhard Zeidler may refer to: * Eberhard Zeidler (architect), Eberhard Heinrich Zeidler (1926–2022), German-Canadian architect * Eberhard Zeidler (mathematician), Eberhard Hermann Erich Zeidler (1940–2016), German mathematician {{hndis, Zeidl ...

(published 1995–2013) and by & Heiner Mühlig (published 1992–2020) to expand and maintain the work up to the present, again with translations into many other languages including English. Semendyayev has been on the editorial board of the Russian journal ' () since its inception. He received 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 b ...

, the

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, Gosudarstvennaya premiya SSSR) was the Soviet Union's state honor. It was established on 9 September 1966. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, t ...

and the

Order of the Red Banner of Labor 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 th ...

Publications

* With Bronshtein: "Handbook of Mathematics for Engineers and Students of Technical Universities" ( Справочник по математике для инженеров и учащихся втузов), Moscow, 1945

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Semendyayev, Konstantin Adolfovic 20th-century Russian mathematicians Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the USSR State Prize Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour

Work and life

Publications

See also

References

Further reading

External links