Igor Rostislavovich Shafarevich (russian: И́горь Ростисла́вович Шафаре́вич; 3 June 1923 – 19 February 2017) was a
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 nation ...
and
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 ...
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 ...
who contributed to
algebraic number theory and
algebraic geometry. Outside mathematics, he wrote books and articles that criticised
socialism
Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...
and other books which were (controversially) described as
anti-semitic.
Mathematics
From his early years, Shafarevich made fundamental contributions to several parts of
mathematics
including
algebraic number theory,
algebraic geometry and
arithmetic algebraic geometry
In mathematics, arithmetic geometry is roughly the application of techniques from algebraic geometry to problems in number theory. Arithmetic geometry is centered around Diophantine geometry, the study of rational points of algebraic varieties.
...
. In particular, in algebraic number theory, the
Shafarevich–Weil theorem
In algebraic number theory, the Shafarevich–Weil theorem relates the fundamental class of a Galois extension of local or global fields to an extension of Galois group
In mathematics, in the area of abstract algebra known as Galois theory, the ...
extends the commutative reciprocity map to the case of
Galois group
In mathematics, in the area of abstract algebra known as Galois theory, the Galois group of a certain type of field extension is a specific group associated with the field extension. The study of field extensions and their relationship to the po ...
s, which are central extensions of
abelian group
In mathematics, an abelian group, also called a commutative group, is a group in which the result of applying the group operation to two group elements does not depend on the order in which they are written. That is, the group operation is comm ...
s by
finite groups.
Shafarevich was the first mathematician to give a completely self-contained formula for the Hilbert pairing, thus initiating an important branch of the study of explicit formulas in
number theory
Number theory (or arithmetic or higher arithmetic in older usage) is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers and integer-valued functions. German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855) said, "Mat ...
. Another famous (and slightly incomplete) result is
Shafarevich's theorem on solvable Galois groups, giving the realization of every finite
solvable group
In mathematics, more specifically in the field of group theory, a solvable group or soluble group is a group that can be constructed from abelian groups using extensions. Equivalently, a solvable group is a group whose derived series terminate ...
as a Galois group over the
rationals
In mathematics, a rational number is a number that can be expressed as the quotient or fraction of two integers, a numerator and a non-zero denominator . For example, is a rational number, as is every integer (e.g. ). The set of all rationa ...
.
Another development is the
Golod–Shafarevich theorem
In mathematics, the Golod–Shafarevich theorem was proved in 1964 by Evgeny Golod and Igor Shafarevich. It is a result in non-commutative homological algebra which solves the class field tower problem, by showing that class field towers can b ...
on towers of
unramified extension
In geometry, ramification is 'branching out', in the way that the square root function, for complex numbers, can be seen to have two ''branches'' differing in sign. The term is also used from the opposite perspective (branches coming together) as ...
s of
number field
In mathematics, an algebraic number field (or simply number field) is an extension field K of the field of rational numbers such that the field extension K / \mathbb has finite degree (and hence is an algebraic field extension).
Thus K is a f ...
s.
Shafarevich and his school greatly contributed to the study of algebraic geometry of
surface
A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is ...
s. He started a famous
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 millio ...
seminar on
classification of algebraic surfaces that updated the treatment of
birational geometry
In mathematics, birational geometry is a field of algebraic geometry in which the goal is to determine when two algebraic varieties are isomorphic outside lower-dimensional subsets. This amounts to studying mappings that are given by rational ...
around 1960 and was largely responsible for the early introduction of the
scheme theory
In mathematics, a scheme is a mathematical structure that enlarges the notion of algebraic variety in several ways, such as taking account of multiplicities (the equations ''x'' = 0 and ''x''2 = 0 define the same algebraic variety but different sc ...
approach to algebraic geometry in the Soviet school. His investigation in arithmetic of
elliptic curve
In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a smooth, projective, algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point . An elliptic curve is defined over a field and describes points in , the Cartesian product of with itself. If ...
s led him, independently of
John Tate, to the introduction of the group related to
elliptic curves
In mathematics, an elliptic curve is a smooth, projective, algebraic curve of genus one, on which there is a specified point . An elliptic curve is defined over a field and describes points in , the Cartesian product of with itself. If t ...
over number fields, the
Tate–Shafarevich group In arithmetic geometry, the Tate–Shafarevich group of an abelian variety (or more generally a group scheme) defined over a number field consists of the elements of the Weil–Châtelet group that become trivial in all of the completions of ...
(usually called 'Sha', and denoted as 'Ш', the first
Cyrillic letter of his surname).
He contributed the
Grothendieck–Ogg–Shafarevich formula and to the
Néron–Ogg–Shafarevich criterion
In mathematics, the Néron–Ogg–Shafarevich criterion states that if ''A'' is an elliptic curve or abelian variety over a local field ''K'' and ℓ is a prime not dividing the characteristic of the residue field of ''K'' then ''A'' has good re ...
.
With former student
Ilya Piatetski-Shapiro
Ilya Piatetski-Shapiro (Hebrew: איליה פיאטצקי-שפירו; russian: Илья́ Ио́сифович Пяте́цкий-Шапи́ро; 30 March 1929 – 21 February 2009) was a Soviet-born Israeli mathematician. During a career that sp ...
, he proved a version of the
Torelli theorem
In mathematics, the Torelli theorem, named after Ruggiero Torelli, is a classical result of algebraic geometry over the complex number field, stating that a non-singular projective algebraic curve (compact Riemann surface) ''C'' is determined b ...
for
K3 surface
In mathematics, a complex analytic K3 surface is a compact connected complex manifold of dimension 2 with trivial canonical bundle and irregularity zero. An (algebraic) K3 surface over any field means a smooth proper geometrically connected al ...
s.
He formulated the
Shafarevich conjecture, which stated the finiteness of the set of
Abelian varieties
In mathematics, particularly in algebraic geometry, complex analysis and algebraic number theory, an abelian variety is a Algebraic variety#Projective variety, projective algebraic variety that is also an algebraic group, i.e., has a group law th ...
over a number field having fixed dimension and prescribed set of primes of
bad reduction
This is a glossary of arithmetic and diophantine geometry in mathematics, areas growing out of the traditional study of Diophantine equations to encompass large parts of number theory and algebraic geometry. Much of the theory is in the form of ...
. The conjecture was proved by
Gerd Faltings
Gerd Faltings (; born 28 July 1954) is a German mathematician known for his work in arithmetic geometry.
Education
From 1972 to 1978, Faltings studied mathematics and physics at the University of Münster. In 1978 he received his PhD in mathema ...
as a partial step in his proof of the
Mordell conjecture
Louis Joel Mordell (28 January 1888 – 12 March 1972) was an American-born British mathematician, known for pioneering research in number theory. He was born in Philadelphia, United States, in a Jewish family of Lithuanian extraction.
Educati ...
.
Shafarevich's students included
Yuri Manin
Yuri Ivanovich Manin (russian: Ю́рий Ива́нович Ма́нин; born 16 February 1937) is a Russian mathematician, known for work in algebraic geometry and diophantine geometry, and many expository works ranging from mathematical log ...
,
Alexey Parshin,
Igor Dolgachev,
Evgeny Golod
Evgenii Solomonovich Golod (russian: Евгений Соломонович Голод, 21 October 1935 – 5 July 2018) was a Russian mathematician who proved the Golod–Shafarevich theorem on class field tower
A tower is a tall structure ...
,
Alexei Kostrikin,
Suren Arakelov Suren Yurievich Arakelov (russian: Суре́н Ю́рьевич Араке́лов, arm, Սուրե՛ն Յուրիի՛ Առաքելո՛վ) (born October 16, 1947 in Kharkiv) is a Soviet mathematician of Armenian descent known for developing Arakel ...
,
G. V. Belyi, Victor Abrashkin, Andrey Todorov, Andrey N. Tyurin, and
Victor Kolyvagin
Victor Alexandrovich Kolyvagin (russian: Виктор Александрович Колывагин, born 11 March, 1955) is a Russian mathematician who wrote a series of papers on Euler systems, leading to breakthroughs on the Birch and Swinnerto ...
.
He was a member of the
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Serbica, sr-Cyr, Српска академија наука и уметности, САНУ, Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, SANU) is a national academy and the ...
in the department of Mathematics, Physics and Earth Sciences.
In 1960, he was elected a Member of the
German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (german: Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften), short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founde ...
. In 1981, he was elected as a foreign member of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
.
In 2017, Shafarevich was awarded the
Leonhard Euler Gold Medal The Leonhard Euler Gold Medal (Золотая медаль имени Леонарда Эйлера) is a medal named after the Swiss, German, and Russian mathematician Leonhard Euler, awarded by the Отделением математических ...
by the
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across ...
.
Soviet politics
Shafarevich came into conflict with the Soviet authorities in the early 1950s but was protected by
Ivan Petrovsky, the Rector of
Moscow University. He belonged to a group of
Pochvennichestvo
''Pochvennichestvo'' (; rus, Почвенничество, p=ˈpot͡ɕvʲɪnnʲɪt͡ɕɪstvə, roughly "return to the native soil", from почва "soil") was a late 19th-century movement in Russia that tied in closely with its contemporary i ...
-influenced dissidents who endorsed the
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canonical ...
tradition. Shafarevich published a book, ''The Socialist Phenomenon'' (French edition 1975, English edition 1980), which was cited by
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repres ...
in his 1978 address to
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
.
In the 1970s, Shafarevich, with
Valery Chalidze
Author and publisher Valery Nikolaevich Chalidze (russian: Вале́рий Никола́евич Чали́дзе; ka, ვალერი ჭალიძე: 25 November 1938 – 3 January 2018) was a Soviet dissident and human rights activis ...
,
Grigori Podyapolski and
Andrei Tverdokhlebov
Andrei Nikolayevich Tverdokhlebov (russian: Андре́й Никола́евич Твердохле́бов, 30 September 1940, Moscow – 3 December 2011, Pennsylvania, United States) was a Soviet physicist, dissident and human rights activist ...
, became one of
Andrei Sakharov
Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ( rus, Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ˈdmʲitrʲɪjevʲɪtɕ ˈsaxərəf; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, nobel laureate and activist for n ...
's
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
investigators and so was dismissed from Moscow University. Shafarevich opposed political interference in universities.
''The Socialist Phenomenon''
Shafarevich's book ''The Socialist Phenomenon'', which was published in the
US by
Harper & Row
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
in 1980, analyzed numerous examples of socialism from ancient times to various medieval heresies and a variety of modern thinkers and socialist states. From those examples, he claimed that all the basic principles of socialist ideology derive from the urge to suppress
individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...
. ''The Socialist Phenomenon'' consists of three major parts:
#
Chiliastic Socialism: Identifies socialist ideas amongst the ancient Greeks, especially
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
, in numerous medieval heretic groups such as the
Cathars
Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. F ...
,
Brethren of the Free Spirit The Brethren of the Free Spirit were adherents of a loose set of beliefs deemed heretical by the Catholic Church but held (or at least believed to be held) by some Christians, especially in the Low Countries, Germany, France, Bohemia, and Norther ...
,
Taborites
The Taborites ( cs, Táborité, cs, singular Táborita), known by their enemies as the Picards, were a faction within the Hussite movement in the medieval Lands of the Bohemian Crown.
Although most of the Taborites were of rural origin, the ...
,
Anabaptists
Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
, in various religious groups during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
, in modern writers such as
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...
,
Tommaso Campanella
Tommaso Campanella (; 5 September 1568 – 21 May 1639), baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet.
He was prosecuted by the Roman Inquisition for heresy in 1594 an ...
and numerous
Enlightenment writers in 18th-century France.
# State Socialism: Describes the socialism of the
Incas
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...
, the
Jesuit state in
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
,
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
and
China.
# Analysis: Identifies three persistent abolition themes in socialism: the abolition of
private property, the abolition of the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
, and the abolition of religion (mainly but not exclusively
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
)
Shafarevich argued that ancient socialism (such as Mesopotamia and Egypt) was not ideological, as an ideology socialism was a reaction to the emergence of individualism in the
Axial Age
Axial Age (also Axis Age, from german: Achsenzeit) is a term coined by German philosopher Karl Jaspers. It refers to broad changes in religious and philosophical thought that occurred in a variety of locations from about the 8th to the 3rd centu ...
. He compared
Thomas More
Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...
's (
''Utopia'') and
Tommaso Campanella
Tommaso Campanella (; 5 September 1568 – 21 May 1639), baptized Giovanni Domenico Campanella, was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, theologian, astrologer, and poet.
He was prosecuted by the Roman Inquisition for heresy in 1594 an ...
's (
''City of the Sun'') visions with what is known about the
Inca Empire
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...
and concluded that there are striking similarities. He claimed that we become persons through our relationship with God and argued that socialism is essentially
nihilistic
Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning of life, meaning. The term was pop ...
and is unconsciously motivated by a death instinct. He concluded that we have the choice of pursuing death or life.
Religious views
Shafarevich adhered to
Russian Orthodox Christianity
Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...
and incorporated the
neo-Platonic
Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some ide ...
views of
Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
into his understanding of the relation of mathematics and religion.
In his talk to the
Göttingen Academy of Sciences
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911.
General information
The or ...
upon receiving a prize, Shafarevich presented his view of the relationship between mathematics and religion. He noted the multiple discoveries in mathematics, such as that of
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 g ...
, to suggest that pure mathematics reflects an objective reality, not a set of conventional definitions or a formalism. He claimed that the growth of mathematics itself is not directed or organic. To have a unity and direction, mathematics needs a goal. It can be practical applications or God as the source for the direction of development. Shafarevich opted for the latter, as pure mathematics is not in itself driven by practical applications.
Russian politics
On 21 December 1991 he took part in the first congress of the
Russian All-People's Union, headed by
Sergei Baburin
Sergey Nikolayevich Baburin (russian: Серге́й Николаевич Бабурин, born 31 January 1959) is a Russian nationalist politician, member of the State Duma of the first, second and fourth convocations where he served in the ...
. In October 1992, he became a member of the founding committee of the
National Salvation Front. In 1993, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the
State Duma with
Mikhail Astafyev's
Constitutional Democratic Party - Party of Popular Freedom.
Shafarevich was a member of the editorial board of the magazine ''
Nash Sovremennik'' and in 1991–1992 of the editorial board of ''Den'' of
Alexander Prokhanov
Alexander Andreyevich Prokhanov (russian: Алекса́ндр Андре́евич Проха́нов; born 26 February 1938) is a Russian writer, a member of the secretariat of the Writers Union of the Russian Federation and the author of more ...
, which ceased publication in October 1993 and later reopened under the title ''
Zavtra
Alexander Andreyevich Prokhanov (russian: Алекса́ндр Андре́евич Проха́нов; born 26 February 1938) is a Russian writer, a member of the secretariat of the Writers Union of the Russian Federation and the author of more ...
''. In 1994, he joined the "All-Russian National Right Wing Centre", led by
Mikhail Astafyev.
Accusations of antisemitism
Shafarevich's essay ''Russophobia''
was expanded into his book ''Three Thousand-Year-Old Mystery'' (Трехтысячелетняя загадка) and resulted in accusations of
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
.
He completed the ''Russophobia'' essay in 1982 and it was initially circulated as ''
samizdat
Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...
''. In the Soviet Union, it was first officially published in 1989. At the same time, Shafarevich condemned the methods that were used to
screen out applicants of Jewish origin when entering prestigious Moscow universities in the 1970s and early 1980s.
In ''Russophobia'', he argued in the essay that great nations experience periods in their history of reformist elitist groups ('small nations') having values that differ fundamentally from the values of the majority of the people but gaining the upper hand in the society. In Shafarevich's opinion, the role of such a 'small nation' in Russia was played by a small group of
intelligentsiya, dominated by
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, who were full of hatred against traditional Russian way of life and played an active role in the terrorist regimes of
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
and
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...
.
[
Its publication led to a request by the ]United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
(NAS) to Shafarevich to resign his membership, because the NAS charter prohibited stripping an existing membership. In an open letter to the NAS, Shafarevich denied that ''Russophobia'' is antisemitic. Shafarevich also noted that since NAS enlisted him without his request or knowledge, delisting him was its internal matter. Nevertheless, when the United States invaded Iraq, Shafarevich faxed his resignation.
Accusations of antisemitism continued and involved Shafarevich's other publications. Semyon Reznik Semyon Efimovich Reznik (Russian: Семён Ефимович Резник) (born 13 June 1938, in Moscow) is a Russian writer, journalist, man of letters and historian, noted in particular for his study of the blood libel and the resurgence of Neo ...
targets the ''Russophobia'' essay for alleged factual inaccuracies: Shafarevich misassigned Jewish ethnicity to a number of non-Jews involved in the execution of Nicholas II, perpetuated the false assertion of graffiti in Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
at the murder site and suggested that Shafarevich's phrase "Nicholas II was shot
Shot may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Shot'' (album), by The Jesus Lizard
*''Shot, Illusion, New God'', an EP by Gruntruck
*'' Shot Rev 2.0'', a video album by The Sisters of Mercy
* "Shot" (song), by The Rasmus
* ''Shot'' (2017 f ...
specifically as the ''Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
'', and this ritual act drew a line under an epoch in Russian history" – may be read as a blood libel
Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mur ...
.[Семён Резник. Кровавый навет в России]
/ref> (The accusation ignores the remainder of Shafarevich's sentence: "so it can only be compared with the execution of Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
in England or of Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
in France".) Aron Katsenelinboigen
Aron Iosifovich Katsenelinboigen (russian: Арон Иосифович Каценелинбойген; September 2, 1927 – July 30, 2005) was a founder of predispositioning theory, a subject in decision theory and systems theory that mod ...
wrote that Shafarevish's work "lives up to the best traditions of antisemitic propaganda".
Later, Shafarevich expanded on his views in his book ''Three Thousand-Year-Old Mystery'' in which he further claimed that Jews effectively marginalise non-Jews to the point of exclusion in all types of intellectual endeavors. The work was published in Russian in 2002; an introductory section explains the relationship with the ''Russophobia'' essay, explaining that the essay developed from an appendix to an intended work of wider scope, which he started writing in ''samizdat''.[ http://shafarevich.voskres.ru/02.htm]
In 2005, Shafarevich was amongst the signatories of the Letter of 5000.
The issue of Shafarevich's alleged antisemitism has been the subject of a 2009 doctoral thesis at the University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...
, which was later turned into a book in which the author, Krista Berglund, concluded that Shafarevich's views have been misconstrued as antisemitic.
Publications
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* Shafarevich, Igor (1975), "Socialism in Our Past and Future." In ''From under the Rubble'', with Solzhenitsyn, Alexander; Agursky, Mikhail; Barabanov, Evgeny; Borisov, Vadim; Korsakov, F. Collins: Harvill Press egnery Pub. 1989
*
* Shafarevich, Igor (1981), "On Certain Tendencies in the Development of Mathematics", ''The Mathematical Intelligencer'', Vol. 3, Number 4, pp. 182–184.
* Nikulin, V. V.; Shafarevich, Igor (1987), ''Geometries and Groups'', Berlin; Springer-Verlag,
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*
* Kostrikin, A. I.; Shafarevich, Igor (1991), ''Noncommutative Rings, Identities'', Berlin: Springer-Verlag,
* Parshin, A. N.; Shafarevich, Igor (1995), ''Number Theory: Fundamental Problems, Ideas, and Theories'', Berlin: Springer,
* Arslanov, M. M.; Parshin, A. N.; Shafarevich, Igor (1996), ''Algebra and Analysis'', Berlin: Walter de Gruyter,
* Shafarevich, Igor (2003), ''Discourses on Algebra'', Berlin: Springer,
* Shafarevich, Igor (2005), ''Basic Notions of Algebra'', Berlin: Springer,
* Shafarevich, Igor (2013), ''Basic Algebraic Geometry 1: Varieties in Projective Space''(3rd edition), Berlin, Springer-Verlag,
* Shafarevich, Igor (2013), ''Basic Algebraic Geometry 2: Schemes and Complex Manifolds''(3rd edition), Berlin, Springer-Verlag,
* Shafarevich, Igor; Remizov, Alexey (2013),
Linear Algebra and Geometry
', Berlin, Springer-Verlag,
* Shafarevich, Igor (2015), ''Collected mathematical papers'', Reprint of the 1989 edition, Springer Collect. Works Math., Springer, Heidelberg, x+769 pp.
Notes
Further reading
* Brun‐Zejmis, Julia (1996), "Who are the 'Enemies of Russia'? The Question of Russophobia in the Samizdat Debate before Glasnost'," ''Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Ethnicity'', Vol. 24, Issue 2.
* Dunlop, John B. (1994), "The 'Sad Case' of Igor Shafarevich," ''East European Jewish Affairs'', Vol. 24, Issue 1.
* Laqueur, Walter (1990)
"From Russia, With Hate,"
''New Republic'', February 5.
* Moran, Gordon (1998), ''Silencing Scientists and Scholars in Other Fields'', Greenwood Publishing Group.
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External links
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Shafarevich's political works
(in Russian)
(in English)
(in English)
''Berglund, Krista''. The Vexing Case of Igor Shafarevich, a Russian Political Thinker
Springer Basel, 2012 (in English).
Speech at the General meeting of Steklov members dedicated to 75th anniversary of Steklov Mathematical Institute.
Video, in Russian.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shafarevich, Igor R.
1923 births
2017 deaths
Scientists from Zhytomyr
20th-century Russian mathematicians
21st-century Russian mathematicians
Soviet mathematicians
Arithmetic geometers
Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Soviet dissidents
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic people
Russian Orthodox Christians from Russia
Russian nationalists
Russian anti-communists
Soviet human rights activists
Textbook writers
Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery
Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina