Prof Sergei Lvovich Sobolev (russian: Серге́й Льво́вич Со́болев) H

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(6 October 1908 – 3 January 1989) 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 ...

working in

mathematical analysis Analysis is the branch of mathematics dealing with continuous functions, limit (mathematics), limits, and related theories, such as Derivative, differentiation, Integral, integration, measure (mathematics), measure, infinite sequences, series (m ...

and

partial differential equation In mathematics, a partial differential equation (PDE) is an equation which imposes relations between the various partial derivatives of a Multivariable calculus, multivariable function. The function is often thought of as an "unknown" to be sol ...

s. Sobolev introduced notions that are now fundamental for several areas of mathematics.

Sobolev space In mathematics, a Sobolev space is a vector space of functions equipped with a norm that is a combination of ''Lp''-norms of the function together with its derivatives up to a given order. The derivatives are understood in a suitable weak sense t ...

s can be defined by some growth conditions on the

Fourier transform A Fourier transform (FT) is a mathematical transform that decomposes functions into frequency components, which are represented by the output of the transform as a function of frequency. Most commonly functions of time or space are transformed, ...

. They and their embedding theorems are an important subject in

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 ...

. Generalized functions (later known as

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

s) were first introduced by Sobolev in 1935 for

weak solution In mathematics, a weak solution (also called a generalized solution) to an ordinary or partial differential equation is a function for which the derivatives may not all exist but which is nonetheless deemed to satisfy the equation in some precisel ...

s, and further developed by

Laurent Schwartz Laurent-Moïse Schwartz (; 5 March 1915 – 4 July 2002) was a French mathematician. He pioneered the theory of distributions, which gives a well-defined meaning to objects such as the Dirac delta function. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 19 ...

. Sobolev abstracted the classical notion of differentiation, so expanding the range of application of the technique of Newton and Leibniz. The theory of

s is considered now as the calculus of the modern epoch.

Life

He was born in St. Petersburg as the son of Lev Alexandrovich Sobolev, a lawyer, and his wife, Natalya Georgievna. His city was renamed Petrograd in his youth and then Leningrad in 1924. Sobolev studied Mathematics at Leningrad University and graduated in 1929, having studied under Professor

Nikolai Günther Nikolai Maximovich Günther (russian: Николай Максимович Гюнтер, also transliterated as Nicholas M. Gunther or N. M. Gjunter.) ( – May 4, 1941) was a Russian mathematician known for his work in potential theory and in Int ...

. After graduation, he worked with Vladimir Smirnov, whom he considered as his second teacher. He worked in Leningrad from 1932, and at the Steklov Mathematical Institute in Moscow from 1934. He headed the institute in evacuation 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 ...

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 ...

. He was a Moscow State University Professor of Mathematics from 1935 to 1957 and also a deputy director of the Institute for Atomic Energy from 1943 to 1957 where he participated in the A-bomb project of the USSR. In 1958, he led with Nikolay Brusentsov the development of the

ternary computer A ternary computer, also called trinary computer, is one that uses ternary logic (i.e., base 3) instead of the more common binary system (i.e., base 2) in its calculations. This means it uses trits (instead of bits, as most computers do). Types ...

Setun Setun (russian: Сетунь) was a computer developed in 1958 at Moscow State University. It was built under the leadership of Sergei Sobolev and Nikolay Brusentsov. It was the most modern ternary computer, using the balanced ternary numeral sys ...

. In 1956, Sobolev joined a number of scientists in proposing a large-scale scientific and educational initiative for the Eastern parts of the

Soviet Union 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 ...

, which resulted in the creation of the Siberian Division of the Academy of Sciences. He was the founder and first director of the Institute of Mathematics at

Akademgorodok Akademgorodok ( rus, Академгородок, p=ɐkəˌdʲemɡərɐˈdok, "Academic Town") is a part of the Sovetsky District of the city of Novosibirsk, Russia, located south of the city center and about west of Koltsovo. It is the edu ...

near

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

, which was later to bear his name, and played an important role in the establishment and development of

Novosibirsk State University Novosibirsk State University is a public research university located in Novosibirsk, Russia. The university was founded in 1958, on the principles of integration of education and science, early involvement of students with research activities an ...

. In 1962, he called for a reform of the Soviet education system. He 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 ...

Family

In 1930 he married Ariadna Dmitrievna.

Publications

In 1955 he co-wrote '' The Main Features of Cybernetics'' with Alexey Lyapunov and Anatoly Kitov which was published in '' Voprosy filosofii''.

Notes

References

* (in

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

). In this paper Sergei Sobolev introduces generalized functions, applying them to the problem of solving

linear Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship (''function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear r ...

hyperbolic partial differential equations. * (in Russian, with

summary). In this paper Sergei Sobolev proved his embedding theorem, introducing and using integral operators very similar to mollifiers, without naming them.

Bibliography

*
''Sergei Lvovich Sobolev (1908-1989). Bio-Bibliography''
( S.S. Kutateladze, editor) Novosibisrk, Sobolev Institute (2008),
''Sergei Lvovich Sobolev.''
in: Russian Mathematicians in the 20th Century ( Yakov Sinai, editor), pp. 381–382.

World Scientific Publishing World Scientific Publishing is an academic publisher of scientific, technical, and medical books and journals headquartered in Singapore. The company was founded in 1981. It publishes about 600 books annually, along with 135 journals in various f ...

, 2003. *Jean Leray. ''La vie et l'œuvre de Serge Sobolev''. he life and works of Sergeĭ Sobolev Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences. Série Générale. La Vie des Sciences, vol. 7 (1990), no. 6, pp. 467–471. *G. V. Demidenko
''A GREAT MATHEMATICIAN OF 20th CENTURY. On the occasion of the centenary from the birthdate of Sergei Lvovich Sobolev''.
Science in Siberia, no. 39 (2674), 2 October 2008 *M. M. Lavrent'ev, Yu. G. Reshetnyak, A. A. Borovkov, S. K. Godunov, T. I. Zelenyak and S. S. Kutateladze. ''Remembrances of Sergei L'vovich Sobolev.'' Siberian Mathematical Journal, vol. 30 (1989), no. 3, pp. 502–504

External links

* *

* Kutateladze S.S.br>Sobolev and Schwartz: Two Fates and Two Fames
* Kutateladze S.S.br>Sobolev of the Euler school
* :ru:Соболев, Сергей Львович
Sobolev's Biography in Russian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sobolev, Sergei Lvovich 1908 births 1989 deaths Mathematicians from Saint Petersburg Soviet mathematicians Russian inventors Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Saint Petersburg State University alumni Moscow State University faculty Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology faculty Members of the French Academy of Sciences Stalin Prize winners Heroes of Socialist Labour Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin