Lev Rafailovich Kontsevich ( rus, Лев Рафаилович Концевич, , born 3 September 1930) is 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, ...

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 ...

orientalist and

Candidate of Sciences Candidate of Sciences (russian: кандидат наук, translit=kandidat nauk) is the first of two doctoral level scientific degrees in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It is formally classified as UNESCO's ISCED level 8, "do ...

, who created the

Kontsevich system The Kontsevich system () is a Cyrillization system for the Korean language and currently the main system of transcribing and transliterating Korean words into the Cyrillic alphabet. The Kontsevich system was created by the Soviet-Russian scholar ...

, the

cyrillization Cyrillization or Cyrillisation is the process of rendering words of a language that normally uses a writing system other than Cyrillic script into (a version of) the Cyrillic alphabets, Cyrillic alphabet. Although such a process has often been ca ...

system for the

Korean language Korean ( South Korean: , ''hangugeo''; North Korean: , ''chosŏnmal'') is the native language for about 80 million people, mostly of Korean descent. It is the official and national language of both North Korea and South Korea (geographic ...

and currently the main system of

transcribing Transcription in the linguistic sense is the systematic representation of spoken language in written form. The source can either be utterances (''speech'' or ''sign language'') or preexisting text in another writing system. Transcription shoul ...

and

transliterating Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...

Korean words into the

Cyrillic alphabet , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

. He is also the father of mathematician

Maxim Kontsevich Maxim Lvovich Kontsevich (russian: Макси́м Льво́вич Конце́вич, ; born 25 August 1964) is a Russian and French mathematician and mathematical physicist. He is a professor at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques an ...

Biography

Kontsevich was born on 1930 in

Tambov Tambov (, ; rus, Тамбов, p=tɐmˈbof) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Central Federal District, central Russia, at the confluence of the Tsna River (Moksha basin), Tsna and ...

. He studied at the

Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies (russian: Московский институт востоковедения, abbreviated МИВ (''MIV'')) was a university-level educational institution that operated in Moscow, Russia, in 1920–1954. It w ...

and graduated from the

Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (russian: Институт востоковедения Российской Академии Наук), formerly Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, ...

, then worked there as a junior research fellow. From 1958 to 1974, he worked as head of the Department of Culture and Language and executive secretary of the scientific journal ''Peoples of Asia and Africa''. During this time in 1965, he visited

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. In 1973, he defended his dissertation and received a PhD in

Philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, he served as a visiting professor in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

till 1995. From 1995 to 2003, he was a leading researcher at the International Center for Korean Studies at

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 ...

. Currently, he is a leading researcher at the Department of Oriental Languages at the

Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences The Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (russian: Институт востоковедения Российской Академии Наук), formerly Institute of Oriental Studies of the USSR Academy of Sciences, ...

. Kontesevich is the author and editor of a large number of studies, articles and publications on oriental studies, as well as translations of Korean traditional literature. He is the author and editor of a large number of studies, articles and publications on oriental studies, as well as translations of

Korean literature Korean literature is the body of literature produced by Koreans, mostly in the Korean language and sometimes in Classical Chinese. For much of Korea's 1,500 years of literary history, it was written in Hanja. It is commonly divided into classica ...

. He is best known for developing the Kontsevich system for transcribing Korean texts from

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

. The system is used by the Korean population living in

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

. In 1999, he won the Korean Linguistics Achievement Award from the Dongsung Science Foundation in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. In 2012, the South Korean

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) is a central government agency responsible for the areas of tourism, culture, art, religion, and sports. It has two vice ministers, three assistant ministers, one commission, and ...

awarded Kontsevich the Order of Cultural Merit on

Hangul Day The Korean Alphabet Day, known as Hangeul Day () in South Korea, and Chosŏn'gŭl Day () in North Korea, is a national Korean commemorative day marking the invention and proclamation of Hangul (), the Korean alphabet, by the 15th century Korea ...

, in recognition for his contributions to Korean studies. He is also the father of renowned mathematician

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kontsevich, Lev 1930 births Living people Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Soviet orientalists Russian orientalists People from Tambov Recipients of the Order of Cultural Merit (Korea) Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies alumni