A Guide to the Russian Academy of Sciences - University of Texas ...

committees: The National Committee of Mathematicians of the Russian Federation,
and the National Committee of Bernoulli Society on Mathematical Statistics,
Probability Theory, Combinatoriecs and its Application.
1. The V. A. Steklov Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of
Sciences in Moscow
42 Vavilov st. Mocsow U-333, GSP-1, 117966. Tel. 135-22-91. For
telegrams: Moscow V-333 Mathematics. Under the direction of Iurii
S. Osipov, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Tel. 135-
22-91.
[The material below is taken from the Steklov Institute homepage on the
internet of the Mathematics Department of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, dated late 1995. I have reproduced it here with only very
minor editing because it is an important historical statement.]
[Retrospect: The scientific history of the Institute goes back to the pre-revolutionary
epoch. Mathematics in Russia was actively and harmonically developed. The level
of mathematical education was rather high in a number of Universities. There were
several active mathematical communities grouped around outstanding researchers.
At the origin of the Petersburg school was great Euler. A large contribution to the
development of mathematics was made by M. V. Ostrogradskii One should also
mention the founder of the famous Petersburg school P. L. Chebyshov and his
followers A. M. Lyapunov, A. A. Markov, S. V. Kovalevskaia (aya), E. I.
Zolotarev, [and] V. A. Steklov These scientists, together with some others, are part
of Russia's national pride. Very famous was the Kazan' mathematical school
founded by N. I. Lobachevskii.
However the development of mathematics in the pre-revolutionary Russia was not
sufficient enough. In particular at the Academy of Sciences there were no scientific
institutions devoted specifically to research in mathematics.
The situation changed radically after the Revolution in 1917, when rapid growth of
education and science was initiated. V. A. Steklov, an outstanding researcher in
mathematics and mechanics, who was elected the Vice President of the Russian
Academy of Sciences in 1919, founded the Mathematical Cabinet of the Academy
of Sciences and in 1921--at his initiative--the Institute of Physics and Mathematics
was established, which included the Mathematical Cabinet, the Physics Laboratory,
and a network of Seismology Stations. A small group of outstanding
mathematicians and physicists was invited to work at the Institute. After V. A.
Steklov's death in 1926 the Institute was given his name. In 1928 A. N. Krylov, an
outstanding mathematician and engineer, became the Director of the Steklov
Institute of Physics and Mathematics. It should be noted that until the beginning of
the early 1930s the activity of the Institute was rather limited.
In 1929, I. M. Vinogradov was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR
The President of the Academy requested a special Committee, which included A.
N. Krylov and A. M. Vinogradov, to work out a plan of division and
transformation of the Institute of Physics and Mathematics into two leading
scientific centers, one in Mathematics and one in Physics.
In 1932, the Institute of Physics and Mathematics was divided into two independent
Departments, the Mathematics Department headed by Academician I. M.
Vinogradov and the Physics Department headed by Academician S. I. Vavilov.
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