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geniuses of a bygone era. Lev Semenovich Pontryagin, Soviet mathematician: biography, scientific career

Lev Semenovich Pontryagin
1908-1988

GLYBISHCHSHCHA

Everyone, of course, heard about the parallelogram of forces.

And even more so about the parallelogram.

Now imagine that you need to mentally depict this very parallelogram of forces, if you have never heard of such a thing before and have not seen such a geometric figure. You haven't seen it because you are blind. Come on, make a cut!

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

How about stereometry? Descriptive geometry? Topology?

And how to make fundamental scientific discoveries in various branches of mathematical knowledge?

How easy is it to LIVE?

"It's impossible!" - you say. Right. Impossible. Only Lev Semenovich Pontryagin could do it.

He ZRIL.

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, one can rightly 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. Alexandrov. In this "message" extremely tough, even in fact arrogant demands were made, which testified to 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 with ironic equanimity he said that he stole this document from the table in Alexandrov’s office ... I confess that only later, recalling our conversation, I I thought: how could a person deprived of sight do this ?! The mystery has remained 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 the buildings on the coast of the Azure Sea are located, and the huge number of cars that completely spoil life with their noise and stink." The second half of the sentence is clear, but how to understand the first? It remains to be seen that it is possible spiritual sight, in its own way not inferior to the sensual or even superior to it ... "V. Kozhinov: TO THE PUBLICATION OF "BIOLOGY ..." PONTRYAGIN

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

And now, for those who are not familiar, check out his brief track record.

Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1939)

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

Honorary Member of the London Mathematical Society (1953)

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

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

Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1972)

Stalin Prize of the 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)

· Award to them. N.I. Lobachevsky (1966)

In 1996, one of the streets of his native Moscow was named after him.

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

The following are named after Pontryagin:

«Characteristic classes of Pontryagin»

"Pontryagin Surface"

"Pontryagin's maximum principle"

«Duality of Pontryagin»

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

He was a man of gigantic willpower. His research on topology, the theory of continuous groups, differential equations, the mathematical theory of optimal processes, in which he created a whole scientific school have become world classics.

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

Started for us.

“I took up the applied branches of mathematics largely out of ethical considerations, believing that my products should find application in solving the vital problems of society,” writes L.S. by ourselves. Born in 1908, Moscow” (http://ega-math.narod.ru/LSP/ch1.htm#a). Thus, the Pontryagin maximum principle has found numerous applications, in particular, in astronautics.

IN last years his life he fought to change the existing methods of teaching mathematics at school, which he considered a real sabotage. How much labor did it cost him, with all his authority, to break through an article on this subject in the journal Kommunist!

... 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 that Lev Semenovich kept until his death. It was mostly Russian classics, which the little Leo, named, by the way, in honor of Leo Tolstoy, re-read in childhood and adolescence. By the way, his origin nearly cost him admission to the university: the new government put tough filters on the Russian people. Thank you, some familiar face in the People's Commissariat of Education helped.

“In my school and university years,” L.S. Pontryagin wrote, “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 science, need to be learned by heart: memorize chronology, names, learn by heart, what decisions were made at various party congresses, and the like. It was always difficult for me to learn such cramming, it was difficult foreign languages, memorization of foreign words, memorization of poems. I noticed that people who memorize poetry well usually know how to write it 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 it was sometimes overshadowed by the fear that what had been done contained a mistake.

Since my student years, I have been working diligently and with passion, however, taking some breaks necessary for rest. But as old age approaches, I somehow more and more unlearn how to rest. Breaks in work have become for me now boring and painful. Laziness never bothered me much. True, after a break it is usually difficult to resume work, there is a reluctance to work. Laziness also arises when you need to complete work by a certain, fairly close deadline, for example, 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 great personal and civic courage.

His colleague at the Institute of Mathematics, Academician I.R. Shafarevich, recalls: “It was the end of the 1940s, the era of pogrom decrees on literature, music, and biology. Only physicists were not touched, they were in a privileged position, a special one, some were even returned from the camps. I think after creating atomic bomb our overlords began to fear that scientists and technicians would get out of control. Here, perhaps, the idea arose: to intimidate physicists, arrange a pogrom at the neighbors - mathematicians. How a letter, signed by three little-known Leningrad "colleagues", appeared from under the ground, in which it was required to "revise" the situation in Soviet mathematics, pointed out hostile "decadent" currents in it. Today this is ridiculous, 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 of the opponents of mathematical decadence, the chairman proposed to speak out. There was silence, and in those seconds, perhaps, the fate of our mathematics was being decided for whole years. Then start someone calling for "correction of mistakes" - and you can imagine the consequences of the precedents that have already taken place. Suddenly, a calm, as if even bored, voice of Pontryagin was heard: “Why, in fact, are we discussing this letter at the Academic Council?” The presiding officer explained that this was a "letter from the working people" sent to us through the Central Committee.

— The Institute receives a lot of letters from “mathematics transformers”, why are we discussing this at the Academic Council?

I do not remember what answer was received, but the mesmerizing 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. 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 Efremovich from prison. A Jew, by the way, before that, Pontryagin, who betrayed him. The friend was released, and then he lived for seven whole years in the apartment of Pontryagin, who had to work hard to evict the rescued. In general, an old, old tale about a fox and a hare and an ice and bast hut.

This is about the "anti-Semitism" of Lev Semenovich.

It is characteristic for Pontryagin that he did not evade such a painful (in many respects) question 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 at least the names of his friends and employees mentioned in the "Biography" - especially when it comes to the first half of his life. But gradually accumulated some impressions. So, Pontryagin writes about one of his graduate students: “She completely struck me with one of her statements. She complained to me that very few Jews were admitted to graduate school this year, no more than a quarter of all accepted. But before, she said, they always accepted at least half.

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

It was these "lads and maidens" who joined the ranks of "jokers" and dissidents in the 60s. And here is another curious and revealing episode: in 1932, Pontryagin received an invitation to go to the USA, but ... “They didn’t let me in. Before that, very easy trips abroad by Soviet mathematicians became more difficult by this time.

Apparently, my friend at the university, student Viktoria Rabinovich, and our teacher of philosophy, Sophia Alexandrovna Yanovskaya, had a hand in refusing to travel. 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 responded to Yanovskaya with a sharp refusal, saying: “In what position do you want to put me? Who is Vika Rabinovich to me? She is not my wife."

Such a joint trip to America for a year with Vika Rabinovich could end in marriage with her, which I did not aspire to 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 offered 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 it.

Thus, 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 a “promising shot” at hand. Later, he became simply an "anti-Semite".

Well, let's talk about this slippery topic.

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 9%. This was interpreted as "blatant discrimination against Jewish mathematicians." Lev Semyonovich rightfully defined such claims as "racist demands."

However, his persecution began much earlier, and it was connected with Pontryagin's struggle 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 inciting Jewish nationalism... In 1978, L.S. Pontryagin was the head of the Soviet delegation at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Helsinki, where 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 people 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 discontent and resentment may not be related to nationality at all. But the easiest way is to write off resentment and discontent on anti-Semitism. Secondly, anti-Soviet information is expected from emigrants from the Soviet Union. Such information is highly paid both by position and money. There is a big 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 conversation in parting, called Pontryagin an anti-Semite and expressed the hope "to meet 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 his trip to the International Mathematical Congress as the head of the Soviet delegation. L.S. Pontryagin notes: “… being a member of the Executive Committee, I stubbornly resisted the pressure of international Zionism, which was striving to increase its influence on the activities of the International Union of Mathematicians. And this caused the Zionists to become embittered against themselves. I think that, by removing me from work in this international organization, A.P. Aleksandrov, consciously or unconsciously, was fulfilling the wish of the Zionists.”

And what else was to be expected from a sophisticated courtier?

Descendants from the "tribe of Dan" did not leave Pontryagin alone even after his death. Thus, in 1998, an international conference dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian mathematician was successfully held in Moscow. And a few months before that, a certain scientific lady sent out around the world a call to boycott the conference, as it is a "gathering of fascists."

Read, if you have not read, the book by L.S. Pontryagina, Other comrades! This is a striking document of the era, written in large vigorous strokes, precise and capacious language.

This is how he sums up his life path Russian genius: “Success in work is the main joy of my life. These joys, however, lose their sharpness with age. Successes in work are often followed by failures. Sometimes months of hard work turns out to be fruitless. When I realize this, or discover a mistake in my work, I always feel a sense of great misfortune that has befallen me.

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

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

He was a believer, but about his religious feelings he said very sparingly and as if in passing: "In adolescence, I for some time lost my religious feeling."

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 what a strong impression the trilogy of A. K. Tolstoy "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 thought then (perhaps I agree with this even now) that the image given by A. K. Tolstoy is much more correct than that given by Pushkin in his drama Boris Godunov. The image given by Pushkin seemed to me completely unconvincing, since I believed that such a politician as Boris Godunov could not suffer from remorse over the murder of a baby. Reading fiction has always been and is now 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, Demons. These writers I read with great enthusiasm. I.S. I never liked Turgenev. But N.S. Leskov liked and continues to like it now.

I really like to reread Blok's small poems, and among them there are even those that have not been read before. I remember Blok's short poems " Railway”, “Portrait”, “Scythians”, from the larger ones - “The Nightingale Garden”. Tyutchev's small poems are also the subject of my fascination. I love it very much and even memorized once “Gemini”, “Cicero” and others. I reread 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 fond of Byron and Heine, but, of course, one cannot feel all their charm in translations. In Lermontov's work, I mainly like small lyrical works of a love nature. Of the great works, I like only "The Demon". "Mtsyri", for example, do not like it, it's boring. Of course, I really like "Kupets Kalashnikov" and "Valerik". I never liked Mayakovsky.

I absolutely cannot read and do not like the large works of Shakespeare. Shakespeare was spoiled for me by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy with his critical analysis of his works. I can't get rid of it, but I think that even without Tolstoy's influence I wouldn't have loved Shakespeare - there are too many corpses, too much blood. I only like Shakespeare's sonnets, they are full of charm. I read and re-read The Quiet Flows the Don by M. Sholokhov with great enthusiasm. The talk that the end of this novel was written by Sholokhov himself, while the beginning was stolen from someone, seems to me completely unconvincing, since the whole novel seems to me equally good. The few works of A. Solzhenitsyn published in the Soviet Union - "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", "The Incident at the Kochetovka Station", "Matryonin Dvor" - seem to me very perfect 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 great 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, perhaps I haven’t got used to them yet. I really appreciate the singing of E. V. Obraztsova.

And of course, among his favorite composers was the "solar genius" - Mozart.

Here he was Lev Semenovich Pontryagin - the Genius of the Russian Land.
Everlasting memory!

"God rest with the Saints!"

01/18/08

ACADEMICIAN L.S.PONTRYAGIN
In 1998, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding mathematician Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin, his book “The biography of L.S. birthday of the great scientist, laureate of the Stalin Prize, laureate of the Lenin Prize, laureate of the State Prize, International Prize. N.I. Lobachevsky, holder of four orders. V.I. Lenin, Order of the October Revolution, Order of the Red Banner of Labor, Hero of Socialist Labor, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Honorary Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences - Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin.”

A whole era in the development of mathematics is associated with the name of Pontryagin. The works of L. S. Pontryagin had a decisive influence on the development of topology and topological algebra. He laid the foundations and proved the fundamental theorems in optimal control and the theory of differential games. His ideas largely predetermined the development of mathematics in the 20th century... Lev Semyonovich Pontryagin always attached great importance to 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, dealt with school education .... "

INGRATITUDE - A NATIONAL CHARACTER?
We read small notes in the newspaper "Soviet Russia" entitled "How Madeleine Albright thanked the saviors" and in the newspaper "Duel" - "Gift" Albright, in which, with reference to a Cypriot journalist, it is said that at the beginning of World War II, Madeleine's parents together with her they fled from the persecution of the Nazi executioners who occupied the Czech Republic. This Jewish-Czech family, as refugees, found shelter in a Serbian house in the small town of Vrnjacka Banja. This place, located 80 kilometers from Kraljevo, was subjected to American bombing on the night of April 12, 1999. In this way, a little Jewish girl once saved by the Serbs, who grew into a powerful US Secretary of State, expressed her sincere gratitude to her rescuers.
Unfortunately, the Cypriot journalist does not say whether words of gratitude were written on the shells of rockets and bombs, as was done when congratulating the Serbs on Easter. A similar story, though not so bloody, but much more protracted, took place in the life of the great Soviet (Russian!) mathematician Pontryagin and was told by him in the chapter “Slander” of his book “The biography of L.S. Pontryagin, a mathematician compiled by himself” (M., IChP "Prima V", 1998).

ACADEMICIAN L.S. PONTRYAGIN AND THE "GRATEFUL" STUDENTS
“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 (topology is a branch of mathematics that studies the topological properties of figures, that is, properties that do not change under any deformations produced without gaps and gluing - V.B.), the theory of continuous groups and the theory of ordinary differential equations with their applications."
The second half of the life of L.S. Pontryagin 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 an important role in proving 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”…
We add that the Pontryagin maximum principle has found numerous applications, in particular, in astronautics. In this regard, the author was elected an honorary member of the International Academy of Astronautics together with Yu.A. Gagarin and V.A. Tereshkova.
So, returning to the above-mentioned chapter “Slander” of L.S. Pontryagin’s book, we read: “I would like to understand why I became the object of such vicious attacks by the Zionists. For many years, I was widely used by Jewish Soviet mathematicians and provided them with all kinds of help. In particular, I helped Rokhlin (mathematician - V.B.) get out of Stalin's test camp and get a job. I was even ready to settle it in my apartment. Now they don't remember it anymore. True, at the end of the 60s, when I realized that I was being used by the Jews in their purely nationalist interests, I stopped helping them, but did not at all act against them. Thus, for a long time the Zionists considered me their reliable support. But in the late 60s they lost it. Perhaps that is why they had the feeling that I was, as it were, a traitor to their interests.
This quote does not actually give examples of the academician's help to Jewish Soviet mathematicians, but the book itself contains numerous concrete examples such assistance. Let us dwell on some of them and on the statements of his students and assistants on the topic of state “anti-Semitism”.
“My relationship with V.A. Efremovich began with my youthful love for him in my first year ... Efremovich dealt me a heavy blow to this love in 1936 ... He betrayed me ... ". But after the arrest of Efremovich in 1937, L.S. Pontryagin repeatedly appealed to his superiors with a petition for release, the last time it was a letter addressed to I.V. Stalin, which led to a positive result.
“Efremovich was followed by his close friend and comrade Galperin.” After his release, Efremovich actually “lived in our apartment for seven years and showed very great tactlessness here, which bored us in the end to death. We had a hard time getting him out...
Later, in 1962, Efremovich began to rush to enter the Steklov Institute and achieved this with my help, as well as with the help of E.F. Mishchenko, deputy. director of the institute, and with the sympathetic attitude of I.M. Vinogradov, the director of the institute ... Not understanding the benevolence with which Vinogradov and Mishchenko reacted to his admission to the institute at my request, he was angry at them all the time ... ”. One of L.S. Pontryagin's hobbies was the calculus of variations. “So I had scientific contacts with L.A. Lyusternik and L.G. Shnirelman ... Shnirelman was an outstanding, talented person, with great oddities. There was something inferior in him, some kind of mental shift ... It ended tragically: Shnirelman deliberately poisoned himself. For many years, L.S. Pontryagin was friends with L.D. Landau and I.A. Kibel.
“The outstanding algebraic geometer and topologist Solomon Alexandrovich Levshits first appeared at my apartment, apparently in 1931. Shnirelman brought him to me.
And further about Levshits: “At the beginning of our acquaintance, he invited me and my mother (recall, L.S. Pontryagin was blind from the age of 14 - V.B.) to the USA for one year ... They didn’t let me in. Before that, very easy trips abroad for Soviet mathematicians became by this time already more difficult ... Apparently, my friend at the university, student Viktoria Rabinovich, and our teacher of philosophy Sofya Aleksandrovna Yanovskaya had a hand in refusing to travel. 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. did not take place for a year.
In 1934, the central bodies of the Academy of Sciences were transferred to Moscow, as well as a significant part of the institutes, including the Steklov Institute of Mathematics - the Steklov Institute. “Among the newly attracted Muscovites to the institute, six were named, who were then considered as young and talented. Including me. It is curious to note that these six people were classified into three pairs according to their "quality". In the first place were A.O. Gelfond and L.G. Shnirelman, in second place - M.A. Lavrentiev and L.A. Lyusternik, and in third - L.S. Pontryagin and A.I. Plesner ... "More Pontryagin notes how this classification has stood the test of time: “Shnirelman died of mental disability when he was barely over 30 years old. Gelfond flashed a short brilliance in his early youth, solving the problem of the transcendence of some numbers. Lyusternik did not reach significant heights at all, and Plesner was hardly any significant mathematician at all.
It can be said that only Lavrentiev and Pontryagin have stood the test of time ... And Lavrentiev, 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.
One more interesting fact from the life of an academician: his first wife, Taisiya Samuilovna Ivanova (stepdaughter of her mother's friend), graduated from the university, but could not write her Ph.D. thesis; L.S. Pontryagin did it for her (work on locusts), and after a divorce in 1952, he continued to follow life ex-wife, who subsequently defended her doctoral dissertation. 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 went into the militia and went missing for many years. It was only at the end of the war that rumors began to reach us that he had been captured by the Germans, and then we learned that he had been released and was being tested in a Soviet camp. I wrote a letter to some authorities with a request to release Rokhlin.
And he returned to Moscow, where he became an assistant to L.S. Pontryagin, who was even going to settle him in his apartment, but he married L.S. Pontryagin's graduate student Asya Gurevich. “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 postgraduate studies at Moscow University with me.” Pontryagin also recalls another of his students from Moscow University - Irina Buyanover, for whom there was some kind of domestic misconduct, and when trying to accept her for graduate school, he even quarreled with the rector of Moscow State University I.G. Petrovsky.
In 1968, the “grateful” student of L.S. Pontryagin, V.G. L.S. Pontryagin also got the impression that Boltyansky was trying to disrupt his report at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Edinburgh in 1958.
And in 1969, at a conference in Georgia, L.S. Pontryagin "for the first time felt some hostility on the part of the Jews." He considered the immediate reason for this to be that he stopped Boltyansky’s attempt to appropriate the work of the whole team by suspending the publication of his book, after which he “began to complain about me to the Jews, interpreting my actions as anti-Semitic, directed against him as a Jew.” “Book conflict” also took place between L.S. Pontryagin and Academician Ya.B. Zeldovich regarding the reprint of the book “Higher Mathematics for Beginners”, about which Academician V.N. Chelomei said: “At the end of the book of Academician Zeldovich it is said: I hope that the reader will enjoy and benefit from my book and close it with pleasure. I also close this book with great pleasure, but so that no one will return to it again.
In his autobiographical book, L.S. Pontryagin writes quite a lot about this case and ends this section with the words: “I devoted a lot of space to describing the case with Zeldovich's book. But this case is typical. At it, I became convinced that even a small group of conscientious people can resist evil if they take up the matter with perseverance and perseverance.
The incident with this book forced L.S. Pontryagin to pay attention to the catastrophic situation with the teaching of mathematics in secondary school based on the set-theoretic approach, which is distinguished by a high degree of abstraction.
In the article “On Mathematics and the Quality of its Teaching” (Kommunist magazine, No. 14, 1980), L.S. Pontryagin cited the following as the simplest example of “improving” the teaching of mathematics at school: about a directed segment ... schoolchildren are forced to learn the following: “A vector (parallel translation) defined by a pair (A, B) of non-coincident points is a space transformation in which each point M is mapped to such a point M / that the ray MM) is co-directed with the ray AB and the distance MM) is equal to the distance AB "(V.M. Klopsky, Z.E. Skopets, M.I. Yagodovsky. Geometry. Textbook for 9th and 10th grades of secondary school. 6th ed. M., "Enlightenment" , 1980, p. 42).
It is not easy to understand this interweaving of words, and most importantly, it is useless, since it cannot be applied either in physics, or in mechanics, or in other sciences.

ACADEMICIAN L.S. PONTRYAGIN - ANTISIONIST
Before the war, L.S. Pontryagin met "a very nice student Asya Gurevich" (later - the wife of the mathematician Rokhlin). “Asya Gurevich during our acquaintance repeatedly turned to me with a request to help one of her friends in some sense. They were always Jews. This did not seem strange to me, since she herself was Jewish and, of course, had the same environment. But after the war, she completely struck me with one of her statements. She complained to me that very few Jews were admitted to graduate school this year, no more than a quarter of all accepted. But before, she said, they always accepted at least half ... ”.
After this phrase, V.V. Kozhinov (“On the publication of the Biography”) writes: “In 1978, an “accusation” of this kind was brought directly and directly to 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 "blatant discrimination against Jewish mathematicians."
“Lev Semyonovich rightfully defined such claims as “racist demands.” Of course, those who put forward these demands were ready to consider the reduction of the “share” of Jews as an expression of “racism”.
However, with an elementary objective approach to the matter, it is impossible not to come to the conclusion that it is precisely the requirement that Jews, who at that time constituted less than 1% of the population of the USSR, “should” make up 34% of the authors of a mathematical publication, is in the exact sense of the word racist. For it clearly implies that the Jews are no less than 34 times more capable of discoveries in mathematics than people of other nationalities ...
Documentary information has recently been 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% (?! !- V.B.).»
We add that these numbers most clearly characterize the "anti-Semitic" and "totalitarian" regime of I.V. Stalin, as well as the desire of the Jews to protect their own people from destruction by the Nazi regime.
V.V. Kozhinov continues: “Isn’t the deliberate “abnormality” of such a state of affairs obvious? 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 comparatively few who actively supported the new government - were subjected to real and global "discrimination". Particularly regrettable was the situation of their children, who were in every possible way blocked the path to higher and special education.
VV Kozhinov also provides data on the national composition of specialists with higher and secondary education employed in the country's national economy. From them it follows that if in 1960 these specialists accounted for 19.6% of the Jewish population of the country, then in 1980 it was already 31.2% - “i.e. almost every third Jew (including children and the elderly) was a “specialist employed in the national economy” ... And since in 1980 31.2% of all Jews in the country were “specialists”, it is absurd to talk about any kind of “discrimination”.”
L.S. Pontryagin writes 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 inciting Jewish nationalism... The Zionist wave of this period was of a pronounced anti-Soviet nature... I remember such a case. There was such a chemist - Levich - Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. 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 enroll Levich in the university ... I could never understand why Levich wanted to leave his homeland, the country in which he was born, was educated, became a scientist ... ".
When in England in 1977 Oxford University organized an international conference on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Levich, L.S. Pontryagin sent a letter to the organizing committee, which, in particular, said: “Levich is not such a significant scientist his anniversary to organize an international conference. In any case, this is not accepted in the Soviet Union. It is possible that the organizers of the conference had a humanitarian goal to help Levich leave the Soviet Union. It probably won't help him. Levich's exaltation, inconsistent with his scientific merits, can only inflame Jewish nationalism, i.e. to increase national strife…”.
Note that here it was about the same Levich, who was first brought up by Landau, then by Frumkin and supported by the rector of Moscow State University Petrovsky. Petrovsky, according to Pontryagin, arranged for Levich to study at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics “and gave him a department in some kind of mathematical or mechanical chemistry. Levich recruited his people there, and soon left for Israel ... ".
The conflict between the American Zionists and Soviet mathematicians was already outlined at the 1974 International Congress in Vancouver and became completely open at the Congress in Helsinki in 1978.
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" was distributed among the participants, about which L.S. Pontryagin wrote: "A significant part of the information contained in it, obviously erroneous and, perhaps, deliberately false ... ".
In his book, L.S. Pontryagin asks the question: “Why do people 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 discontent and resentment may not be related to nationality at all. But the easiest way is to write off resentment and discontent on anti-Semitism. Secondly, anti-Soviet information is expected from emigrants from the Soviet Union. Such information is highly paid both by position and money. There is a big demand for it. And so, in order to pay for America's dollar hospitality, some people give deliberately false information.
After leaving Helsinki, an “anti-Soviet rally was held there, at which our former citizen EB Dynkin... In my opinion, Dynkin is not a significant mathematician from the point of view of Soviet science. And in America, as I was told, he enjoys a reputation as an outstanding scientist,” wrote L.S. Pontryagin.
In Helsinki, L.S. Pontryagin had a meeting with Lipman 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 his trip to the International Mathematical Congress as the head of the Soviet delegation.
L.S. Pontryagin notes: “… being a member of the Executive Committee, I stubbornly resisted the pressure of international Zionism, which was striving to increase its influence on the activities of the International Union of Mathematicians. And this caused the Zionists to become embittered against themselves. I think that, by removing me from work in this international organization, A.P. Aleksandrov, consciously or unconsciously, was fulfilling the wish of the Zionists.”
Following the publication of the manuscript "The State of Soviet Mathematics", several more articles appeared in the US press, one of which was signed by sixteen mathematicians and contained examples of "anti-Semitism", which "rather point not to anti-Semitism, but to pronounced racist, Zionist demands" ( L.S. Pontryagin). About this period of his life, L.S. Pontryagin wrote: “There was an attempt among the Zionists to take the International Union of Mathematicians into their own hands. They tried to push Professor Jacobson, a mediocre scientist, but an aggressive Zionist, to the presidency of the International Union of Mathematicians, I managed to repel this attack ... ".
Pontryagin noted that many articles accusing him of anti-Semitism “were inspired by emigrants who left the Soviet Union for the United States. Having a visa to Israel. Some of them were not scientists of any importance and had to pay for the warm hospitality extended to them in the USA with vicious slander against the Soviet Union. This is the origin of this propaganda, which is clearly political in nature.
L.S. Pontryagin put a lot of effort into the publication of books by A. Poincaré. “The fact is that in the works of Poincare, long before Einstein, the main provisions of the theory of relativity were expressed ... Meanwhile, Zionist circles stubbornly strive to present Einstein as the only creator of the theory of relativity. This is unfair (highlighted by me - V.B.).
A conflict situation with the university publishing house arose with L.S. Pontryagin, since its director, Zeitlin, refused to publish a course of lectures of the academician, despite the "persuasion" of the rector of Moscow State University I.G. Petrovsky, who, in turn, did not pay L.S. Pontryagin for reading these lectures. When, at the end of the 60s, L.S. Pontryagin got acquainted with the work of the academic publishing house where his books were published, he was surprised to find that “the list of authors published there is rather narrow. The books of the same authors are published, and there were few books by outstanding scientists. The publication of physical and mathematical literature was controlled by the section of academician L.I. Sedov, and only the persistent and decisive actions of Pontryagin made it possible to change the state of affairs in the publishing house.
All this led to the fact that the "grateful" students of the academician in our country and abroad launched a campaign to persecute L.S. Pontryagin. So, according to the BBC, it was said at length that the outstanding mathematician Ioffe was being repressed and that the repressions against mathematicians were becoming more and more cruel, and Pontryagin, “the chairman of the committee of mathematicians of the Soviet Union,” was behind all this.
And this is not an isolated accusation! A massive campaign was launched, as a result of which, among other things, he was expelled from the editorial board of an international journal, having received a letter from the editor-in-chief, which said: “... I highly appreciate your support when Levshits and I founded this journal in 1964. It is regrettable that the Soviet Academy of Sciences is unable to ensure the intellectual and academic freedom of scientists in the USSR. With the ongoing repressions of your government, Soviet scientists cannot count on the respect and support of the international scientific community.
Of course, there were honest people in the United States itself (but they were extremely few) who wrote to the editor: “Your actions are a mockery of academic freedom, which you violate in your own journal. It is you - the one who should have been kicked out of the magazine ”(Your R. Fin, C. Stein).
Boltyansky also played an active role in persecuting his 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 to 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 National Academy of Sciences of the USA F.Press and the Secretary for foreign affairs J.B. Weingaarden, in which his work "Russophobia" was qualified as anti-Semitic, and for this reason he himself was asked to leave the Academy of his own free will. This letter was signed by 152 members of the Academy. Although it was labeled “personal and confidential,” a massive campaign was launched in the foreign press to accuse I.R. Shafarevich of preparing public opinion for the start of events similar to those of Hitler. Here, for example, is what a group of French scientists led by Nobel Prize winner Georges Charpak wrote: “For a long time, science in your country was poisoned by anti-Semitism. It is regrettable to note that such great mathematicians as Vinogradov and Pontryagin were subjected to his pernicious influence, and Academician Shafarevich even wrote the book "Russophobia", which, starting as sociological research ends with an expression of undisguised anti-Semitism. Academician Shafarevich is fanning the bonfire at a dangerous moment, when, as in Germany after 1929, this bonfire can grow to the size of a real hell, into which the whole country will be plunged. Again, this is very reminiscent of the following. “Remember, by cheating on me, you are cheating on the whole country!” The authors continue: “Most of all, we are shocked that this is done by a famous mathematician whose work is recognized all over the world. True, he does not consider the Jewish people an "inferior race" and does not call for pogroms, but his conclusions, pathological conclusions about the Jewish conspiracy, the purpose of which is the collapse of Russia, will quickly find adherents. All the faster that the world famous mathematician, a courageous opponent of the Brezhnev regime, declares this ... We great respect We refer to the past of I. Shafarevich, but the position he currently holds is simply terrible. Does he really want history to go backwards? Again Auschwitz and Treblinka?..”
At the end of the letter sent to all members of the Academy of Sciences of the CIS countries (!), the authors call for action: “We very much hope that, through joint efforts, your society will find ways to counter all manifestations of racism and anti-Semitism” (emphasis mine - V.B.).
Let us recall that I.R. Shafarevich in this book, in particular, wrote: “There is only one nation, about whose worries we hear almost daily. Jewish national emotions are in a fever both in our country and the whole world: they influence disarmament negotiations, trade agreements and international relations of scientists, cause demonstrations and sit-ins and pop up in almost every conversation. The "Jewish question" has acquired an incomprehensible power over the minds, overshadowed the problems of Ukrainians, Estonians, Armenians or Crimean Tatars. And the existence of the “Russian question”, apparently, is not recognized at all.”
In this regard, L.S. Pontryagin asks in his book the question, who needs it? And he himself answers: “First of all, to the Zionists, since Zionism cannot exist without anti-Semitism, and if it does not exist, then it must be invented (highlighted by me - V.B.). In the United States, all this is used as an allegedly existing public opinion, which is necessary for making anti-Soviet decisions at a high government level. On this, Zionism and US government circles are quite unanimous.”
Note that the destruction of the Soviet Union did not reduce the intensity of the anti-Russian campaign both in "this" country and abroad. Now, anti-Russian and anti-Slavic decisions are being made “at a high government level” in the United States, an attempt is being made to begin with completely destroying the Serbs, to establish a “new order” on the model of Hitler in the Arab world, before taking on Russia in full, the ruling circles of which are systematically carrying out anti-Russian policy in "this" country.
Interestingly, in a country that is 85% Russian, any attempt to use the word "Russian" is taken by the Russian-language press as a manifestation of anti-Semitism. At the same time, Jews - participants in the Great Patriotic War - are gathering in Moscow, and this is good, while the television message contains something like the following text: during the war, the Jews had only one privilege - they had no chance of surviving being captured (news program on the channel "Russia" from May 4, 1999).
And somehow it is "forgotten" that the main contribution to the Victory, to the salvation of the Jewish people from Hitler's annihilation, was made by the Slavic peoples at the cost of more than three tens of millions of human lives!
According to O. Platonov (“Why America Will Perish”, M., Russky Vestnik, 1999): “Most of the Soviet Jewish emigrants in the United States receive so-called compensation for the victims of Nazi persecution from the German government. According to the law imposed on this country by international Jewish circles, every Jew (not Russian, not Pole, not Czech) who was born before the end of the war and who was for some time in the territory occupied by German troops or fled (evacuated) from the territory later occupied by the Germans , received the right to compensation in the amount of 5 thousand marks (1989) ... (note that the exchange rate german mark in relation to the ruble in May 1999 was 13-14 rubles. for one stamp - V.B.) ...
More than 90 percent of the Jews who received this compensation were not real victims of Nazism. The money received by them, in fairness, should have belonged to millions of Russian people (including Little Russians and Belarusians) who really suffered from fascist aggression.

(Chapter from the book by V.I. Boyarintsev - Russian and non-Russian scientists. Myths and reality.)

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 in an accident. Graduated from Moscow University (1929). Since 1939, the head of the department of the Mathematical Institute. V. A. Steklov Academy of Sciences of the USSR, at the same time since 1935 professor at Moscow State University.

In the works of Poincaré, long before Einstein, the main provisions of the theory of relativity were expressed. In the first two of these books, some of them are just formulated. Meanwhile, Zionist circles stubbornly 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, built a theory of 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 - 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 the Pontryagin school had a great influence on the development of control theory and the calculus of variations throughout the world. His students are well-known 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 to receive his medal (the congress was held in France). Moreover, the chairman of the French organizing committee of the congress was told that Novikov should not be released, since he was a heavy alcoholic (which was an unscrupulous 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 outrage throughout the mathematical world as a manifestation of "Soviet anti-Semitism."

Pontryagin Lev Semyonovich

Pontryagin wrote detailed memoirs “The Life of L. S. Pontryagin, a Mathematician Compiled by Himself,” in which he gave an assessment of many scientists and events that he witnessed and participated in, 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 "Astronautics" (1966)
* Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union (1970–1974)
* Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1972)
* Stalin Prize of the second degree (1941)
* Lenin Prize (1962)
* State Prize of the USSR (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)

Proceedings
* Continuous groups. 3rd ed., rev. - M.: Nauka, 1973. - 519 p.
* Fundamentals of combinatorial topology. - M.-L.: Gostekhizdat, 1947. - 143 p.
* Ordinary differential equations: Proc. for the state 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 push Professor Jacobson, a mediocre scientist but an aggressive Zionist, to the presidency of the International Union of Mathematicians. I managed to repulse this attack...

Pontryagin Lev Semyonovich

* Mathematical theory of optimal processes. 2nd ed. - M.: Nauka, 1969. - 384 p., fig., tab. - Together with V. G. Boltyansky, R. V. Gamkrelidze and E. F. Mishchenko.
* Linear differential evasion game // Proceedings of the Mathematical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. T. 112, ss. 30–63. - M.: Nauka, 1971.
* Favorites scientific works. In 3 volumes - M .: Nauka, 1988.
* For additional list of works, see Bibliography.
* Articles by Pontryagin 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

For the first time such a medal was awarded to a Soviet mathematician named Novikov. ... Novikov was not allowed to go to receive his medal (the congress took place in France). Moreover, the chairman of the French organizing committee of the congress was told that Novikov should not be released, since he was a heavy alcoholic (which was an unscrupulous 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 outrage throughout the mathematical world as a manifestation of "Soviet anti-Semitism."

Page:

Pontryagin Lev Semyonovich

— Honorary titles and awards
* Honorary Member of the London Mathematical Society (1953)
* Honorary Member of the International Academy "Astronautics" (1966)
* Vice-President of the International Mathematical Union (1970-1974)
* Honorary Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1972)
* Stalin Prize of the second degree (1941)
* Lenin Prize (1962)
* State Prize of the USSR (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)

— Proceedings
* Continuous groups. 3rd ed., rev. — M.: Nauka, 1973. — 519 p.
* Fundamentals of combinatorial topology. - M.-L.: Gostekhizdat, 1947. - 143 p.
* Ordinary differential equations: Proc. for the state Univ. 3rd ed., stereotype. — M.: Nauka, 1970. — 331 p., fig.
* Mathematical theory of optimal processes. 2nd ed. - M .: Nauka, 1969. - 384 p., Fig., Tab. - Together with V. G. Boltyansky, R. V. Gamkrelidze and E. F. Mishchenko.
* Linear differential evasion game // Proceedings of the Mathematical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. T. 112, ss. 30-63. — M.: Nauka, 1971.
* Selected scientific works. In 3 volumes - M .: Nauka, 1988.
* For additional list of works, see Bibliography.
* Articles by Pontryagin in the journal Kvant (1992-1985).
* L. S. Pontryagin, Generalizations of Numbers. - M., Nauka, 1986, 120 p.

Pontryagin Lev Semyonovich - Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.
Born August 21 (September 3), 1908 in Moscow. At the age of 14, he lost his sight in an accident. In 1925 he graduated from a unified labor ten-year school.
Entered the Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov (Moscow State University), which he graduated in 1929. In the period from 1930 to 1932 - Associate Professor of the Department of Algebra and an employee (postgraduate student) of the Research Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics at Moscow State University. Also in 1931 he became a member of the Laboratory of Oscillations of the Institute of Physics at Moscow State University. Since 1932 - Acting Professor of Moscow State University.
Since 1934, he also worked at the V.A.Steklov Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now - the V.A.Steklov Mathematical Institute Russian Academy Sciences). He successively held the positions of senior researcher (since 1934), head of the department of topology and geometry (since 1939), head of the department of differential equations (since 1980 - department of ordinary differential equations) (since 1959).
In 1935, L.S. Pontryagin was awarded the degree of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences without defending a dissertation, and he became a professor at Moscow State University.
In topology, L.S. Pontryagin discovered the general law of duality, and in connection with this he constructed a theory of characters of continuous groups; obtained a number of results in homotopy theory (Pontryagin classes). In the theory of oscillations, his main results relate to the asymptotic behavior of relaxation oscillations. In control theory - the creator of the mathematical theory of optimal processes, which is based on the so-called Pontryagin maximum principle; has fundamental results on differential games. The work of L.S. Pontryagin's school had a great influence on the development of control theory and the calculus of variations throughout the world.
Later he was the head of the Department of Optimal Control of the Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics of Moscow State University.
Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 13, 1969 for great services in the development of Soviet science Pontryagin Lev Semyonovich He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.
From 1972 to 1988 - Senior Researcher at the Department of Mathematics of the All-Union Institute of Scientific and technical information SCST and AS USSR.
Raised a galaxy of brilliant scientists. His students in different time famous mathematicians D.V. Anosov, V.G. Boltyansky, R.V. Gamkrelidze, M.I. Zelikin, E.F. Mishchenko, M.M. Postnikov, N.Kh. and others.
He devoted a lot of time and energy to social and scientific activities. IN different years He has been a member of various organizations and held various positions:
- Member of the Academic Council of the V.A.Steklov Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (from 1951 to 1988);
- Chairman of the Postgraduate Commission at the V.A.Steklov Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1954);
- Member of the Expert Commission for the award of the N.I. Lobachevsky Prize (from 1957 to 1988);
- Chairman of the Expert Commission for the award of the P.L. Chebyshev Prize;
- Member of the section "Mathematics and Mechanics" of the Committee on Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR in the field of science and technology under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (from 1959 to 1988);
- Member of the Bureau of the National Committee of Soviet Mathematicians (1961);
- Chairman of the Scientific Commission on the Problem "Ordinary Differential Equations" at the Department of Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1962);
- Member of the Expert Commission on Mathematics of the Higher Attestation Commission (from 1963 to 1972);
- Member of the Executive Committee of the TS-7 Committee (on optimization) of the International Federation for Information Processes (from 1967 to 1985);
- Deputy Chairman of the National Committee of Soviet Mathematicians (from 1969 to 1983);
- Vice President of the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union (from 1970 to 1974);
- Chairman of the mathematics group at the Section (since 1987 - the Mathematics Section) of publications of the Main Editorial Board of Physics and Mathematics Literature of the Editorial and Publishing Council of the USSR Academy of Sciences (since 1970);
- Chairman of the Commission on Publishing Issues of the Department of Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences;
- Member of the Bureau of the Department of Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (from 1971 to 1988);
- Member of the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union (from 1974 to 1978);
- Deputy Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the All-Union Scientific Conference on Non-Euclidean Geometry;
- Chairman of the Commission on School Mathematical Education of the Department of Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (from 1982 to 1988).
Laureate of the Stalin Prize of the 2nd degree (1941), the Lenin Prize (1962), the State Prize of the USSR (1975), the N.I. Lobachevsky Prize (1966).
Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1958), corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1939), honorary member of the London Mathematical Society (1953), honorary member of the International Academy "Astronautics" (1966), vice-president of the International Mathematical Union (from 1970 to 1974) , honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1972), honorary doctor of science from the University of Salford (England) (1976), doctor of physical and mathematical sciences (1935), professor (1935).
Supervised the work of a number of scientific publications. He was the editor-in-chief of the journals "Applied mathematics and optimization" (New York etc.) (from 1974 to 1988) and "Mathematical collection" (from 1975 to 1987), as well as a member of the editorial board of the journals "Mathematics" (VINITI), "Journal of optimization theory and applications" (New York; London) (from 1967 to 1988), "Journal of differential equations" (New York; London) (from 1974 to 1980), "Proceedings of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Mathematical series” (from 1958 to 1975).
Lived in Moscow. Died May 3, 1988. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery (plot 10).
He was awarded four Orders of Lenin (1953, 1967, 1969, 1978), Orders of the October Revolution (1975), Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1945), "Badge of Honor" (1940), medals "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945" (1946), "In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow" (1948), the jubilee medal "For Valiant Labor. In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1970).
On the wall of the house on Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow, where L.S. Pontryagin lived from 1938 to 1988, there is a bust.