Naum Yakovlevich Vilenkin (russian: Наум Яковлевич Виленкин, October 30, 1920 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 ...

– October 19, 1991 in Moscow) 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, ...

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 ...

, an expert in representation theory, the theory of

special functions Special functions are particular mathematical functions that have more or less established names and notations due to their importance in mathematical analysis, functional analysis, geometry, physics, or other applications. The term is defined by ...

functional analysis Functional analysis is a branch of mathematical analysis, the core of which is formed by the study of vector spaces endowed with some kind of limit-related structure (e.g. Inner product space#Definition, inner product, Norm (mathematics)#Defini ...

, and

combinatorics Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and an end in obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures. It is closely related to many other areas of mathematics and has many appl ...

. He is best known as the author of many books in

recreational Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure ...

mathematics aimed at middle and high school students.

Biography

Vilenkin studied at the Moscow State University where he was a student of A.G. Kurosh. He received his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1950; and was awarded the ''Ushinsky prize'' for his school mathematics textbooks in 1976.

Books

* ''Combinatorics'' by N.Ia. Vilenkin, A. Shenitzer, and S. Shenitzer (hardcover – Sep 1971) * ''Representation Theory and Noncommutative Harmonic Analysis'' II: ''Homogeneous Spaces, Representations, and Special Functions'' (''Encyclopaedia of Mathematical Sciences'') by A. U. Klimyk, V. F. Molchanov, N. Ya. Vilenkin, and

A. A. Kirillov Alexandre Aleksandrovich Kirillov (russian: Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Кири́ллов, born 1936) is a Soviet and Russian mathematician, known for his works in the fields of representation theory, topological groups a ...

(hardcover – Aug 26, 2004) * ''Representation of Lie Groups and Special Functions: Recent Advances'' (Mathematics and Its Applications) by N. Ja, Vilenkin and A. U. Klimyk (hardcover – Nov 1, 1994) * ''Representation of Lie Groups and Special Functions'' Volume 1: ''Simplest Lie Groups, Special Functions and Integral Transforms'' (Mathematics and its Applications) by N.Ia. Vilenkin and A. U. Klimyk (hardcover – Nov 15, 1991) * ''Generalized Functions''. Volume 5. ''Integral geometry and representation theory'' by I. M. Gel'fand, M. I. Graev, N. Ya. Vilenkin, and E. Saletan (hardcover – Oct 25, 1966) * ''Direct decompositions of topological groups'', I, II (American Mathematical Society. Translation) by N. Ia. Vilenkin (1950)

Books in recreational mathematics

* ''In Search of Infinity by N. Ya. Vilenkin'' (Hardcover – 1995) * ''Combinatorial mathematics for recreation'' by N. Ia. Vilenkin (1972) * ''Stories About Sets'' by N. Ia. Vilenkin (Paperback – 1968) * ''Successive approximation'', (Popular lectures in mathematics) by N. Ya. Vilenkin (1964)

References

* F. I. Karpelevich, A. U. Klimyk, L. M. Koganov, et al. "Naum Yakovlevich Vilenkin (on the occasion of his seventieth birthday)", ''Russian Math. Surveys'' 46 (1991), 251–254. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vilenkin, Naum Ya 1920 births 1991 deaths Soviet mathematicians Combinatorialists Mathematicians from Moscow