Pontryagin, Lev Semyonovich. Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Soviet mathematician: biography, scientific career

Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin (August 21 (September 3) 1908, Moscow - May 3, 1988, Moscow) - Soviet mathematician, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1958; corresponding member 1939), Hero of Socialist Labor (1969).

At the age of 14, he lost his sight as a result of an accident. Graduated from Moscow University (1929). Since 1939, head of department at the Mathematical Institute. V. A. Steklov of the USSR Academy of Sciences, at the same time since 1935 a professor at Moscow State University.

In the works of Poincaré, long before Einstein, the basic principles of the theory of relativity were expressed. The first two of these books spell out some of them. Meanwhile, Zionist circles persistently strive to present Einstein as the sole creator of the theory of relativity. It's not fair.

Pontryagin Lev Semyonovich

In topology, he discovered the general law of duality and, in connection with this, constructed a theory of the characters of continuous groups; obtained a number of results in homotopy theory (Pontryagin classes).

In the theory of oscillations, the main results relate to the asymptotic behavior of relaxation oscillations. In control theory, he is the creator of the mathematical theory of optimal processes, which is based on the so-called. Pontryagin's maximum principle (see Optimal control); has fundamental results on differential games.

The work of Pontryagin’s school had big influence on the development of control theory and calculus of variations throughout the world. His students are famous mathematicians D. V. Anosov, V. G. Boltyansky, R. V. Gamkrelidze, M. I. Zelikin, E. F. Mishchenko, M. M. Postnikov, N. Kh. Rozov, V. A Rokhlin.

For the first time such a medal was awarded to a Soviet mathematician named Novikov. ... Novikov was not allowed to go and receive his medal (the congress took place in France). Moreover, the chairman of the French organizing committee of the congress was told that Novikov could not be released, since he was a severe alcoholic (which was a shameless exaggeration). After some time, the medal was again awarded to a Soviet mathematician - this time by the name of Margulis. He was also not allowed to receive his medal. But this caused violent indignation throughout the mathematical world as a manifestation of “Soviet anti-Semitism.”

Pontryagin Lev Semyonovich

Pontryagin wrote a detailed memoir, “The Biography of L. S. Pontryagin, a Mathematician, Compiled by Himself,” in which he assessed many scientists and the events of which he was a witness and participant, in particular, the campaign against N. N. Luzin.

Honorary titles and awards
* Honorary Member of the London Mathematical Society (1953)
* Honorary member of the International Academy of Astronautics (1966)
* Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union (1970–1974)
* Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1972)
* Stalin Prize, second degree (1941)
* Lenin Prize (1962)
* USSR State Prize (1975) for the textbook “Ordinary Differential Equations”, published in 1974 (4th ed.)
* Hero of Socialist Labor (1969)
* Four Orders of Lenin (1953, 1967, 1969, 1978)
* Order of the October Revolution (1975)
* Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1945)
* Order of the Badge of Honor (1940)
* N. I. Lobachevsky Prize (1966)

Proceedings
* Continuous groups. 3rd ed., rev. - M.: Nauka, 1973. - 519 p.
* Fundamentals of combinatorial topology. - M.-L.: Gostekhizdat, 1947. - 143 p.
* Ordinary differential equations: Textbook. for government univ. 3rd ed., stereotype. - M.: Nauka, 1970. - 331 p., fig.

There was an attempt among the Zionists to take the International Union of Mathematicians into their own hands. They tried to install Professor Jacobson, a mediocre scientist but an aggressive Zionist, as president of the International Union of Mathematicians. I managed to repel this attack...

Pontryagin Lev Semyonovich

* Mathematical theory of optimal processes. 2nd ed. - M.: Nauka, 1969. - 384 pp., figure, table. - Together with V. G. Boltyansky, R. V. Gamkrelidze and E. F. Mishchenko.
* Linear differential game of escape // Proceedings of the Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences. T. 112, pp. 30–63. - M.: Nauka, 1971.
* Selected scientific works. In 3 volumes - M.: Nauka, 1988.
* For an additional list of works, see Bibliography.
* Pontryagin’s articles in the journal Kvant (1992–1985).
* L. S. Pontryagin, “Generalizations of numbers.” - M., Nauka, 1986, 120 p.

Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin - photo

Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin - quotes

In the works of Poincaré, long before Einstein, the basic principles of the theory of relativity were expressed. The first two of these books spell out some of them. Meanwhile, Zionist circles persistently strive to present Einstein as the sole creator of the theory of relativity. It's not fair.

For the first time such a medal was awarded to a Soviet mathematician named Novikov. ... Novikov was not allowed to go and receive his medal (the congress took place in France). Moreover, the chairman of the French organizing committee of the congress was told that Novikov could not be released, since he was a severe alcoholic (which was a shameless exaggeration). After some time, the medal was again awarded to a Soviet mathematician - this time by the name of Margulis. He was also not allowed to receive his medal. But this caused violent indignation throughout the mathematical world as a manifestation of “Soviet anti-Semitism.”

At the age of 14, Lev lost his sight due to an accident: an exploding primus stove (a device for heating and cooking food) caused a severe burn to his face. Vchari only worsened the situation - the boy was completely blind after an unsuccessful surgical operation. For his father, Semyon Akimovich, this was a real tragedy. Lyova was forced to leave school, but the Pontryagin family had no idea how the boy’s classmates would behave.

Leva’s classmates picked him up from home every day, took him to school, told him about the material he had covered, and then returned him home. Lev graduated from school with a gold medal, then entered college. And there were friends who became his eyes.

After the death of her father, Tatyana Pontryagina, Lev's mother, devoted herself to her son. She studied lessons with him at school and entered the training courses in the Institute. And after enrolling in the mathematics department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University in 1925, she helped her student son. She specially learned German and read it aloud to my son.

A scientist in the field of mechanics and teacher Andrei Petrovich Minakov recalls: “Professor Nikolai Nikolaevich Buchholz was giving a lecture, everyone was not listening very carefully, suddenly Pontryagin’s voice: “Professor, you made a mistake in the drawing!” It turns out that he, being blind, “heard” the arrangement of letters on the drawing and realized that not everything was in order there.”

He did not use aids for the blind, such as braille books, but he memorized lectures by ear. And at night he reproduced in his memory what he heard. He loved skiing, skating, and kayaking.

Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, having gone through a difficult path, became one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century. He made significant contributions to algebraic and differential topology, the theory of oscillations, calculus of variations, and control theory. In control theory, Pontryagin is the creator of the mathematical theory of optimal processes, which is based on the so-called. Pontryagin's maximum principle; has fundamental results on differential games. The work of Pontryagin's school had a great influence on the development of control theory and calculus of variations throughout the world.

According to the recollections of Pontryagin's students, he was an extraordinary friend. He didn’t just agree to help - he internalized other people’s problems as if they were his own, he constantly thought about how to solve them, tried different ways, sparing neither effort nor nerves, without fear of ruining relationships with influential persons.

An entire era in the development of mathematics is associated with the name of Pontryagin. The works of Lev Semenovich Pontryagin had a decisive influence on the development of topology and topological algebra. He laid the foundations and proved the main theorems in optimal control and the theory of differential games. His ideas largely predetermined the development of mathematics in the 20th century... Great importance Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin always attached public life: his bright, emotional speeches at various meetings are memorable; for a number of years he represented the Soviet Union in the International Mathematical Union, supervised the publication of mathematical literature, and dealt with issues of school education.

"Small Soviet Encyclopedia"(1959) summed up the first half of L.S. Pontryagin’s life:

“... Soviet mathematician, academician (since 1958). At the age of 14, he lost his sight in an accident. The main works relate to topology, the theory of continuous groups and the theory of ordinary differential equations with their applications.”

The second half of L.S. Pontryagin’s life and his scientific achievements of this period are reflected in the “Encyclopedia for Children. Mathematics" (1998):

“...The design of long-range missiles stimulated the development of optimal control (L.S. Pontryagin, R. Bellman)... Let us mention the theory of optimal control of technical and production processes. The concept of convexity plays important role in the proof of one of the most important theorems of this theory - the maximum principle (“Pontryagin’s maximum principle” - V.B.), which was established in the mid-50s by Soviet mathematicians L.S. Pontryagin, V.G. Boltyansky and R.V. .Gamkrelidze (about Boltyansky, see below - V.B.)...". One of the creators (of a new direction called optimal control) was the “Russian mathematician Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin”...

Now about the personal. In the chapter “Slander” of L.S. Pontryagin’s book, we read:

“I want to understand why I became the object of such vicious attacks from the Zionists. For many years I was widely used by Jewish Soviet mathematicians and provided them with all kinds of assistance. In particular, I helped Rokhlin get out of Stalin's testing camp and get a job. I was even ready to put him in my apartment. Now they no longer remember about it. True, at the end of the 60s, when I realized that I was being used by the Jews in their purely nationalistic interests, I stopped helping them, but did not act against them at all. Thus, for a long time The Zionists considered me their reliable support. But at the end of the 60s they lost it. It is possible that this is why they had the feeling that I was, as it were, a traitor to their interests.”

“The outstanding algebraic geometer and topologist Solomon Aleksandrovich Levshits first appeared in my apartment, apparently in 1931. Shnirelman brought him to me.”
And further about Levshits: “At the beginning of our acquaintance, he invited my mother and me (remember, from the age of 14 L.S. Pontryagin was blind) to the USA for one year... I was not allowed. The previously very easy trips abroad for Soviet mathematicians had by this time become more difficult... Apparently, my friend at the university, student Victoria Rabinovich, and our philosophy teacher Sofya Aleksandrovna Yanovskaya had a hand in denying me the trip. In any case, one day Yanovskaya told me: “Lev Semyonovich, would you agree to go to America with Vitya Rabinovich, and not with your mother?” After L.S. Pontryagin’s refusal, “a trip to the United States planned for the 33rd year didn’t take place for a year.”

“Among the Muscovites newly attracted to the institute, six were named, who were considered then as young and talented. That included me. It is interesting to note that these six people were classified into three pairs according to their “quality.” In first place were A.O. Gelfond and L.G. Shnirelman, in second place were M.A. Lavrentiev and L.A. Lyusternik, and in third place were L.S. Pontryagin and A.I. Plesner...”

“Shnirelman died from mental incompetence when he was barely 30 years old. Gelfond flashed a brief brilliance in his early youth, solving the problem of the transcendence of certain numbers. Lyusternik did not reach significant heights at all, and Plesner was hardly any significant mathematician.
We can say that only Lavrentyev and Pontryagin stood the test of time... And Lavrentyev, in addition, turned out to be an outstanding organizer. He founded a new Russian research center in Novosibirsk - the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences."

Now more about Rokhlin:

“My pre-war student, the most diligent and capable listener of my lectures, Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin, reappeared on my horizon. At the beginning of the war, he joined the militia and disappeared for many years. Only at the end of the war did we begin to hear rumors that he had been captured by the Germans, and then we learned that he had been released and was being checked in a Soviet camp. I wrote a letter to some authorities asking to release Rokhlin.”

“When Rokhlin defended his doctoral dissertation, he announced to me that he could no longer remain in the position of my assistant... In his place I took V.G. Boltyansky, who by that time had completed his graduate studies at Moscow University with me.”

“At the end of Academician Zeldovich’s book it is said: “I hope that the reader will receive pleasure and benefit from my book and will close it with pleasure.” I also close this book with great pleasure, but so that no one returns to it again.”

“I devoted a lot of space to describing the case with Zeldovich’s book. But this case is typical. It convinced me that even a small group of conscientious people can resist evil if they take on the task with perseverance and perseverance.”

Before the war, L.S. Pontryagin met “a very nice student Asya Gurevich” (later the wife of the mathematician Rokhlin).

“During our acquaintance, Asya Gurevich repeatedly turned to me with a request to help one of her friends in some sense. It was always Jews. This did not seem strange to me, since she herself was Jewish and, naturally, had the same environment. But after the war, she completely amazed me with one of her statements. She complained to me that very few Jews were accepted into graduate school this year, no more than a quarter of all those accepted. But before, she said, they always took at least half...”

After this phrase, V.V. Kozhinov (“On the publication of “Biography””) writes:

“In 1978, an “accusation” of this kind was brought directly against L.S. Pontryagin himself as the editor-in-chief of the Mathematical Collection. Someone “calculated” that mathematicians of Jewish origin who previously appeared on the pages of this publication accounted for 34% of all authors, and now 9%. This was interpreted as "explicit discrimination against Jewish mathematicians."
"Lev Semyonovich with with good reason defined such claims as “racist demands.” Of course, those who put forward these demands were ready to consider a decrease in the “share” of Jews as an expression of “racism.”
However, with an elementary objective approach to the matter, one cannot help but come to the conclusion that the requirement according to which Jews, who then made up less than 1% of the population of the USSR, “must” make up 34% of the authors of a mathematical publication, is in the strict sense of the word racist. For it clearly implies that Jews are no less than 34 times more capable of discoveries in mathematics than people of other nationalities...
Recently, documentary information was published about the “share” of Jews among graduates of the Faculty of Physics of Moscow University in the late 1930s - early 1940s: 1938 - 46%, 1940 - 58%, 1941 - 74%, 1942 - 98%.”

“Isn’t the obvious “abnormality” of this state of affairs? It, of course, could not be some kind of accident. It is well known that after 1917, more or less educated Russian people - with the exception of those relatively few who most actively supported the new government - were subjected to real and global "discrimination." The situation of their children was especially deplorable, whose path to higher and special education was blocked in every possible way.”

“A new wave of Zionist aggression began to approach the world. The so-called six-day war of 1967, in which Israel defeated Egypt, sharply spurred it on and contributed to the incitement of Jewish nationalism... The Zionist wave of this period had a pronounced anti-Soviet character... I remember such a case. There was such a chemist - Levich - corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He wanted to leave for Israel, but he was not given a visa for a long time... While waiting for his departure, the rector of Moscow University G.I. Petrovsky tried to assign Levich to the university... I could never understand why Levich wanted to leave his homeland, the country in which he was born, was brought up, became a scientist...”

“Levich is not such a significant scientist to organize an international conference in honor of his anniversary. In any case, this is not accepted in the Soviet Union. It is possible that the organizers of the conference had a humane goal to help Levich leave Soviet Union. It's unlikely that this will help him. The glorification of Levich, which does not correspond to his scientific merits, can only inflame Jewish nationalism, i.e. increase national discord..."

“Why do those leaving the Soviet Union carry such information abroad? There are two reasons for this, I think. The first is that people leaving the Soviet Union are dissatisfied with something happening in our country, they are offended by someone. This dissatisfaction and resentment may not be related to nationality at all. But the easiest way is to attribute grievances and discontent to anti-Semitism. Secondly, emigrants from the Soviet Union are expected to provide anti-Soviet information. Such information is highly remunerated in both position and money. There is a great demand for it. And so, in order to pay for America’s dollar hospitality, some people give deliberately false information.”

“...as a member of the Executive Committee, I stubbornly resisted the pressure of international Zionism, seeking to increase its influence on the activities of the International Union of Mathematicians. And this caused the Zionists to become angry against themselves. I think that by removing me from work in this international organization, A.P. Aleksandrov consciously or unconsciously fulfilled the wishes of the Zionists.”

“The fact is that in the works of Poincaré, long before Einstein, the main provisions of the theory of relativity were expressed... Meanwhile, Zionist circles persistently strive to present Einstein as the sole creator of the theory of relativity. It's not fair.

Boltyansky also played an active role in the persecution of his scientific supervisor, who, according to L.S. Pontryagin, “began to complain about me to the Jews, interpreting my actions as anti-Semitic. .."
Note that a similar story, only on a larger scale, with exclusion from a number of international academies, happened with academician Igor Rostislavovich Shafarevich after the publication of his book “Russophobia”. In July 1992, I.R. Shafarevich received “ Open letter» from the President of the US National Academy of Sciences F.Press and Secretary for foreign affairs J.B. Weingaarden, in which his work “Russophobia” was qualified as anti-Semitic, and for this reason he himself was offered at will leave the Academy. This letter was signed by 152 members of the Academy. Although it was classified as “personal and confidential”, foreign press a massive campaign was launched to accuse I.R. Shafarevich of preparing public opinion for the start of events similar to Hitler’s. Here, for example, is what a group of French scientists led by the laureate wrote: Nobel Prize Georges Charpak:

“For a long time, science in your country has been poisoned by anti-Semitism. It is regrettable to note that such great mathematicians as Vinogradov and Pontryagin were subject to its harmful influence, and academician Shafarevich even wrote the book “Russophobia,” which, starting as a sociological study, ends with an expression of undisguised anti-Semitism. Academician Shafarevich fans the fire at a dangerous moment when, as in Germany after 1929, this fire can grow to the size of a real hell into which the whole country will be plunged.” Again, this is very similar to the following.” “Remember, by cheating on me, you are cheating on the whole country!” The authors continue: “We are most shocked that this is being done by a famous mathematician whose work is recognized throughout the world. True, he does not consider the Jewish people to be a “lower race” and does not call for pogroms, but his conclusions, pathological conclusions about a Jewish conspiracy whose goal is the collapse of Russia, will quickly find adherents. All the faster that a world-famous mathematician, a courageous opponent of the Brezhnev regime, declares this... We have great respect for the past of I. Shafarevich, but the position he currently takes is simply terrible. Does he really want history to go backwards? Auschwitz and Treblinka again?..”

“We really hope that, together, your society will find ways to counter all manifestations of racism and anti-Semitism.”

“There is only one nation whose concerns we hear about almost daily. Jewish national emotions are feverish both our country and the whole world: they influence disarmament negotiations, trade agreements and international connections scientists, spark demonstrations and sit-ins, and crop up in almost every conversation. The “Jewish question” acquired an incomprehensible power over the minds, overshadowing the problems of Ukrainians, Estonians, Armenians or Crimean Tatars. And the existence of the “Russian question” is apparently not recognized at all.”

“First of all, to the Zionists, since Zionism cannot exist without anti-Semitism, and if it does not exist, then it must be invented. In the United States, all this is used as if it exists public opinion, necessary for making anti-Soviet decisions at a high government level. Zionism and US government circles are quite unanimous on this.”

Excerpts from the book by V.I. Boyarintsev - "Russian and non-Russian scientists. Myths and reality."

Lev Semenovich Pontryagin
1908-1988

LOBBY

Of course, everyone has heard about the parallelogram of forces.

And even more so about the parallelogram.

Now imagine that you need to mentally depict this same parallelogram of forces, if you have never heard of such a thing before and geometric figure never seen anything like this. You haven't seen it because you are blind. Come on, do the section!

Well, God be with him, with a parallelogram and a section of a plane drawn through... mmm... points. But how to solve differential equations and all that other stuff, consisting of many incomprehensible icons that you have to at least just mentally imagine and about which even a sighted person begins to dazzle in the eyes?

How to do stereometry? Descriptive geometry? Topology?

How to do fundamental scientific discoveries in various branches of mathematical knowledge?

How can you simply LIVE?

"This is impossible!" - you say. Right. Impossible. Only Lev Semenovich Pontryagin was able to do this.

He SAW.

The outstanding Russian thinker V.V. Kozhinov told two amazing stories about him: “I came to visit a blind man, but soon I stopped noticing it. And I am convinced that such a victorious overcoming of a fatal loss was the fruit of a unique spiritual will and energy.

In general, we can rightfully say that Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin was perhaps the most sighted from his colleagues... To visually confirm his messages, Lev Semyonovich showed me the text of the “message” of a group of US mathematicians to the then President of the USSR Academy of Sciences A.P. Aleksandrov. This “message” made extremely stringent, even essentially arrogant demands, which indicated a completely abnormal situation in the relationship between the scientific circles of the two great powers of that time. I decided to ask Lev Semyonovich about how the American “message” ended up in his hands, and he said with ironic equanimity that he had stolen this document from the table in Alexandrov’s office... I admit that only later, remembering our conversation, I I thought: how could a person deprived of sight do this?! The riddle remains a mystery to me.

Lev Semyonovich reports, for example, about his impressions of a trip to a mathematical conference in San Remo in 1969: “In Italy, I was amazed at the density with which buildings are located on the coast of the Azure Sea, and the huge number of cars that completely ruin life with their noise and the stench." The second half of the sentence is clear, but how to understand the first? It remains to be believed that it is possible spiritual vision , in its own way not inferior to the sensual or even superior to it...” V. Kozhinov: ON THE PUBLICATION OF PONTRYAGIN’S “BIOGRAPHY...”

(http://ega-math.narod.ru/LSP/ch8.htm#b)

Now, for those who are not familiar, take a look at his brief track record.

Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1939)

· Full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1958)

· Honorary Member of the London Mathematical Society (1953)

· Honorary member of the International Academy of Astronautics (1966)

· Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union (1970-1974)

· Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1972)

· Stalin Prize, second degree (1941)

· Lenin Prize (1962)

· USSR State Prize (1975) for the textbook “Ordinary Differential Equations”, published in 1974 (4th ed.)

· Hero of Socialist Labor (1969)

· Four Orders of Lenin (1953, 1967, 1969, 1978)

· Order of the October Revolution (1975)

· Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1945)

· Order of the Badge of Honor (1940)

· Prize named after. N.I.Lobachevsky (1966)

One of the streets in his native Moscow was named after him in 1996.

Sometimes, in order to be rightfully recognized as great, it is enough to have one single theorem named after you.

The following are named after Pontryagin:

· “Characteristic classes of Pontryagin”

· “Pontryagin surface”

· “Pontryagin’s maximum principle”

· “Pontryagin’s duality”

Based on our formal “working” definition, we can say that Pontryagin is at least FOUR TIMES GREAT.

It was a man gigantic strength will. His research on topology, the theory of continuous groups, differential equations, the mathematical theory of optimal processes, in which he created an entire scientific school, have become world classics.

This great Russian man repeatedly put aside his existing work and began research in a completely new area for him and others. Started everything from scratch.

He started for you and me.

“I took up applied branches of mathematics largely for ethical reasons, believing that my products should find application in solving vital problems. important issues society,” writes L.S. Pontryagin in his book “Biography of Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, mathematician, compiled by himself. Born 1908, Moscow" (http://ega-math.narod.ru/LSP/ch1.htm#a). Thus, Pontryagin’s maximum principle has found numerous applications, in particular in astronautics.

In the last years of his life, he fought to change the existing methods of teaching mathematics at school, which he considered pure sabotage. How much work it took him, with all his authority, to publish an article on this topic in the magazine “Communist”!

... He was born and raised in a simple bourgeois family. His father was a shoemaker, his mother a dressmaker. My father had a sixth-grade education, he loved books and collected a library, which Lev Semenovich kept until his death. These were mainly Russian classics, which little Lev, named, by the way, in honor of Leo Tolstoy, re-read in childhood and adolescence. By the way, his origin almost cost him admission to the university: the new government put strict filters on Russian people. Thank you, some help Familiar face in Narkompros.

“During my school and university years,” wrote L.S. Pontryagin, “I often said and sincerely thought that mathematics is easier than other subjects, since it does not require memorization. After all, any formula and theorem can be deduced logically without remembering anything by heart. And other subjects, such as history or social studies, need to be learned by heart: memorize chronology, names, learn from memory, what decisions were made at various party congresses, and the like. Such cramming has always been difficult for me, it was difficult for me to foreign languages, memorization foreign words, memorizing poetry. I have noticed that people who memorize poetry well usually know how to write them themselves. Apparently, there is some element of creativity in memorization.”

And further: “Despite the fact that much in mathematics was easy for me, the perception of mathematical knowledge, especially scientific work, was hard but joyful work for me. Scientific work, as a rule, required the utmost effort from me and was accompanied by heavy emotional stress. The latter arose because the path to success always went through many unsuccessful attempts; Having achieved the desired result, I was usually so exhausted that I no longer had the strength to rejoice. Joy came much later, and even it was sometimes darkened by the fear that what was done contained a mistake.”

Since student years, I work diligently and with passion, although at the same time taking some breaks necessary for rest. But as I approach old age, I somehow forget more and more how to rest. Breaks from work have now become boring and painful for me. Laziness has never really bothered me. True, after a break it is usually difficult to resume work, and a reluctance to work arises. Laziness also occurs when you need to complete work by a certain, quite close deadline, for example, to prepare a lecture or report, so overcoming laziness is also work!” (http://ega-math.narod.ru/LSP/book.htm)

He had a will of steel and enormous personal and civic courage.

His colleague at the Institute of Mathematics, Academician I.R. Shafarevich, recalls: “It was the end of the 40s - the era of pogrom regulations on literature, music, biology. Only physicists were not touched; they were in a privileged, special position, some were even returned from the camps. I think after creation atomic bomb our rulers began to fear that scientists and technicians would get out of control. This is where, perhaps, the idea arose: to alarm the physicists, organize a pogrom among their neighbors - mathematicians. How a letter appeared out of the ground, signed by three little-known Leningrad “colleagues”, which demanded to “reconsider” the situation in Soviet mathematics, indicating hostile “decadent” trends in it. Today this is funny, but then an extended meeting of the Academic Council of the Mathematical Institute of the Academy of Sciences was convened to discuss the letter. After the announcement of the message from opponents of mathematical decadence, the chairman invited people to speak out. There was silence, and in these seconds, perhaps, the fate of our mathematics for entire years was decided. If someone starts calling for “correction of mistakes” then, one can imagine the consequences based on the precedents that have already taken place. Suddenly Pontryagin’s calm, seemingly bored voice was heard: “Why, exactly, are we discussing this letter at the Academic Council?” The chairman explained that this was a “letter from the workers” sent to us through the Central Committee.

— The Institute receives many letters from “mathematics reformers,” why are we discussing this at the Academic Council?

I don’t remember what answer was received, but the hypnotizing atmosphere of fear dissipated. At first timidly, then more boldly, the members of the council began to object to the authors, and the meeting ended with a resolution taking mathematics under protection, although with all the caution and reservations typical of that time.”I. R. SHAFAREVICH PONTRYAGIN ABOUT MYSELF AND MY THOUGHTS ABOUT HIM (“Tomorrow” No. 40, 1998)

And in 1937, Pontryagin wrote a letter to Stalin asking him to release his mathematician friend Efremovich from prison. The Jew, by the way, had previously betrayed him, Pontryagin. The friend was released, and he then lived for seven whole years in the apartment of Pontryagin, who had to work hard to evict the rescued man. In general, an old, old fairy tale about the fox and the hare and the ice and bast huts.

This is about the question of Lev Semenovich’s “anti-Semitism”.

It is characteristic of Pontryagin that he did not shy away from such a painful (in many respects) issue as the role of the Jewish intelligentsia in our life. Of course, he cannot be suspected of any initial racial or national antipathy, as evidenced by the names of his friends and colleagues mentioned in the “Biography” - especially where we are talking about the first half of his life. But gradually some impressions accumulated. Thus, Pontryagin writes about one of his graduate students: “She completely amazed me with one of her statements. She complained to me that very few Jews were accepted into graduate school this year, no more than a quarter of all those accepted. But before, she said, they always took at least half.”

By the way, the well-known “debunker of Stalinism” G. Kostyrchenko published documentary information about the “proportion” of Jews among graduates of the physics department of Moscow University in the late 1930s - early 1940s (they entered Moscow State University in 1933-1937): 1938 - 46% , 1940 - 58%, 1941 - 74%, 1942 - 98%, ... ! (See: G. Kostyrchenko. Captured by the Red Pharaoh. Political persecution of Jews in the USSR. Documentary research. - M.: 1994, p. 286.)

It was these “lads and girls” who joined the ranks of “jokers” and dissidents in the 60s. And here is another interesting and revealing episode: in 1932, Pontryagin received an invitation to go to the USA, but... “They didn’t let me in. The previously very easy trips abroad for Soviet mathematicians had by this time become more difficult.

Apparently, my friend at the university, student Victoria Rabinovich, and our philosophy teacher Sofya Aleksandrovna Yanovskaya had a hand in denying me the trip. In any case, one day Yanovskaya told me:

— Lev Semyonovich, would you agree to go to America with Vika Rabinovich, and not with your mother?

I answered Yanovskaya with a sharp refusal, saying: “What position do you want to put me in? Who is Vika Rabinovich to me? She’s not my wife.”

Such a joint trip to America for a year with Vika Rabinovich could have ended in marriage with her, which was not what I wanted at all. Yanovskaya at that time was an influential party figure, and I can imagine that a lot depended on her, in particular, if she invited me to go with Vika Rabinovich, then she probably had reason to think that she could organize this trip. But I didn't agree to this.

The trip to the United States planned for the 33rd year did not take place for a year" (http://ega-math.narod.ru/LSP/ch2.htm#a ).

In a word, young Lev Semenovich did not understand that Madame Yanovskaya wanted to arrange his personal life, give him a “start in life,” and at the same time have more than “promising personnel” at hand. Later he became simply an “anti-Semite.”

Well, let's talk about this slippery topic.

A direct “accusation” of “anti-Semitism” was openly brought against L.S. Pontryagin as the editor-in-chief of the “Mathematical Collection” in 1978. Someone “calculated” that mathematicians of Jewish origin who previously appeared on the pages of this publication accounted for 34% of all authors, and now they make up 9%. This was interpreted as "explicit discrimination against Jewish mathematicians." Lev Semyonovich rightly defined such claims as “racist demands.”

However, his persecution began much earlier, and it was connected with Pontryagin’s fight against Zionism.

He himself wrote that long before the Moscow International Congress of Mathematicians (1966), “a new wave of Zionist aggression began to approach the world. The so-called six-day war of 1967, in which Israel defeated Egypt, sharply spurred it on and contributed to the incitement of Jewish nationalism... In 1978, L.S. Pontryagin was the head of the Soviet delegation at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Helsinki, where a large-circulation manuscript “The Situation in Soviet mathematics”, about which L.S. Pontryagin wrote the following: “A significant part of the information contained in it is obviously erroneous and, perhaps, deliberately false...”. At the same time, he asks the question: “Why do those leaving the Soviet Union carry such information abroad? There are two reasons for this, I think. The first is that people leaving the Soviet Union are dissatisfied with something happening in our country, they are offended by someone. This dissatisfaction and resentment may not be related to nationality at all. But the easiest way is to attribute grievances and discontent to anti-Semitism. Secondly, emigrants from the Soviet Union are expected to provide anti-Soviet information. Such information is highly remunerated in both position and money. There is a great demand for it. And so, in order to pay for America’s dollar hospitality, some people give deliberately false information” (http://ega-math.narod.ru/LSP/ch2.htm#a).

In Helsinki, L.S. Pontryagin had a meeting with L. Bers, who, after a long farewell conversation, called Pontryagin an anti-Semite and expressed the hope of “meeting him again.” In the same 1978, the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences A.P. Aleksandrov removed Pontryagin from the post of Soviet representative in the International Union of Mathematicians. His work on the Executive Committee of the International Union of Mathematicians ended with a trip to the International Mathematical Congress as the head of the Soviet delegation. L.S. Pontryagin notes: “... as a member of the Executive Committee, I stubbornly resisted the pressure of international Zionism, seeking to strengthen its influence on the activities of the International Union of Mathematicians. And this caused the Zionists to become angry against themselves. I think that by removing me from work in this international organization, A.P. Alexandrov, consciously or unconsciously, fulfilled the wishes of the Zionists.”

What else could you expect from a sophisticated courtier?

Descendants from the “tribe of Dan” did not leave Pontryagin alone even after his death. Thus, in 1998, a successful event was held in Moscow international Conference, dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian mathematician. And a few months earlier, a certain learned lady sent out a call throughout the world to boycott the conference, since it was “a gathering of fascists.”

Read, if you haven’t read, the book by L.S. Pontryagina, fellow comrades! This is a striking document of the era, written in large, energetic strokes, in precise and succinct language.

This is how the Russian genius sums up his life path: “Success in work constitutes the main joys of my life. These joys, however, lose their sharpness with age. Successes at work are often replaced by failures. Sometimes months of labor prove fruitless. Having realized this or discovered a mistake in the work done, I always feel a feeling of great misfortune that has befallen me.

Based on many years of experience, I have come to the belief that serious success in any field human activity requires extreme effort. At the same time, numerous failures are inevitable. You have to put up with the latter. And you should be tolerant of the failures of others. Despite numerous failures that led to alternating emotional ups and downs, I consider the overall emotional outcome of my professional activity positive.

Still, I don't think I was born destined to be a mathematician. In other words, my gene pool uniquely determined my profession.”

He was a believer, but he spoke very sparingly and casually about his religious feelings: “In my adolescence, I lost my religious feeling for some time.”

And finally, about his literary and artistic passions: “As a child, I was very fond of reading fiction. I borrowed books from my father's library. It seems to me that no one guided me in choosing books. I still remember how strong an impression A. K. Tolstoy’s trilogy “The Death of Ivan the Terrible”, “Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich” and “Tsar Boris” made on me. During my life I have re-read these masterpieces of Russian drama many times. Boris Godunov has become my favorite historical hero. I believed then (perhaps I still agree with this) that the image given by A.K. Tolstoy was much more correct than that given by Pushkin in his drama “Boris Godunov”. The image given by Pushkin seemed completely unconvincing to me, since I believed that such a political figure as Boris Godunov could not suffer from remorse over the murder of a baby. Reading fiction has always been and continues to be an essential part of my life. While still a schoolboy, I read Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Anna Karenina, as well as Dostoevsky’s main novels: The Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot, The Demons. I read these writers with great fascination. I.S. I never liked Turgenev. But N.S. Leskov liked and continues to like now.

I really like to reread Blok’s short poems, and among them there are even ones I haven’t read before. I really remember Blok’s short poems “ Railway", "Portrait", "Scythians", of the larger ones - "Nightingale Garden". Tyutchev's short poems are also the subject of my fascination. I love it very much and even once memorized “Gemini”, “Cicero” and others. I re-read the poems of A.K. Tolstoy, his ballads, especially “Vasily Shibanov”, “Ballad with a Tendency” and others, as well as lyrical works- “Alyosha Popovich” and much more.

There was a period when I was fascinated by Byron and Heine, but, of course, one cannot feel all their charm in translations. By Lermontov I mainly like short lyrical works of a love nature. Of the larger works, I only like “The Demon.” “Mtsyri,” for example, I don’t like, it’s boring. Of course, I really like “Merchant Kalashnikov” and “Valerik”. I never liked Mayakovsky.

I absolutely can’t read and don’t like Shakespeare’s major works. Shakespeare was spoiled for me by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy with his critical analysis of his works. I can’t get rid of this, but I think that even without Tolstoy’s influence I would not have loved Shakespeare - too many corpses, too much blood. I only like Shakespeare's sonnets, they are full of charm. With great enthusiasm I read and re-read “Quiet Don” by M. Sholokhov. Talk that the end of this novel was written by Sholokhov himself, and the beginning was stolen from someone, seems completely unconvincing to me, since the whole novel seems equally good to me. The few works of A. Solzhenitsyn published in the Soviet Union - “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, “An Incident at Kochetovka Station”, “Matryonin’s Dvor” - seem to me to be very accomplished literary works, albeit with a strong tinge of gloom. I read larger things in Russian during my trips abroad. I really like “Cancer Ward” and “In the First Circle”. Solzhenitsyn is a major artist. My wife and I did not read The Gulag Archipelago. My strength was already running out..."

And about music: “I must say that I don’t like Shostakovich and Prokofiev, as well as I. Stravinsky, maybe I haven’t gotten used to them yet. I really appreciate the singing of E. V. Obraztsova.”

And of course, one of his favorite composers was the “sunny genius” - Mozart.

This is what Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin was like - the Genius of the Russian Land.
Everlasting memory!

"Rest in peace with the Saints!"

Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin(August 21, 1908; Moscow - May 3, 1988, ibid.) - Soviet mathematician, one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1958; corresponding member since 1939). Hero of Socialist Labor (1969). Laureate of the Lenin Prize (1962), Stalin Prize 2nd degree (1941) and State Prize USSR (1975).

He made significant contributions to algebraic and differential topology, the theory of oscillations, calculus of variations, and control theory. In control theory, Pontryagin is the creator of the mathematical theory of optimal processes, which is based on the so-called. Pontryagin's maximum principle; has fundamental results on differential games. The work of Pontryagin's school had a great influence on the development of control theory and calculus of variations throughout the world.

Pontryagin's students are famous mathematicians D. V. Anosov, V. G. Boltyansky, R. V. Gamkrelidze, M. I. Zelikin, E. F. Mishchenko, M. M. Postnikov, N. Kh. Rozov, V. A Rokhlin and V.I. Blagodatskikh. Academician I.M. Gelfand counted L.S. Pontryagin among his teachers.

Biography

Childhood

Lev Pontryagin was born on August 21 (September 3), 1908 in Moscow. Pontryagin's father - Semyon Akimovich (d. 1927), came from artisan shoemakers in the Oryol province, graduated from six classes of a city school, fought in the Russo-Japanese and First World Wars, was captured in Germany and stayed there for a long time, after returning to Russia he worked accountant. Mother - Tatyana Andreevna, before Petrova's marriage (d. 1958), from the peasants of the Yaroslavl province, trained in Moscow to be a dressmaker, was an intelligent, extraordinary woman.

At the age of 14, Lev lost his sight as a result of an accident (an exploding primus stove caused a severe burn to his face). His life itself was in such serious danger that no attention was immediately paid to his eyes. An attempt to restore vision by subsequent surgery caused severe inflammation of the eyes and led to complete blindness. For Semyon Pontryagin, his son’s tragedy became a catastrophe in his life; he quickly lost his ability to work. Last years He was on disability throughout his life and died in 1927 from a stroke.

Studying at the University

After the death of her husband, Tatyana Pontryagina devoted herself to her son. Without any special mathematical education, she and her son took up teaching mathematics, together with him they prepared to enter the university, and after enrolling in 1925, she helped her student son. So Tatyana Pontryagina learned German and read a lot to her son, sometimes hundreds of pages a day of special text of scientific articles in German.

Thanks to this, with complete blindness, Lev Pontryagin, having graduated high school, in 1929 received higher education at the mathematical department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. Pontryagin's classmate was L.I. Sedov, later an outstanding mechanical scientist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

The following case is indicative (according to the memoirs of A.P. Minakov): “Professor Nikolai Nikolaevich Buchholz is giving a lecture, everyone is not listening very carefully, suddenly Pontryagin’s voice: “Professor, you made a mistake in the drawing!” It turns out that he, being blind, “heard” arrangement of letters on the drawing and realized that not everything was in order there.”

After graduating from the university, Lev Pontryagin entered a two-year graduate school with P. S. Alexandrov.

Beginning of a scientific career

Lev Pontryagin began his scientific work very early, at the age of eighteen, while a second-year university student.

In 1930, Pontryagin was enlisted as an associate professor in the department of algebra at Moscow University and an employee of the Research Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics of Moscow State University. In 1935, academic degrees and titles were restored in the USSR and, without defense, the Higher Attestation Commission awarded him the degree of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and in the same year he was confirmed with the rank of professor.