Vladimir Andreevich Steklov was a Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

/Russian

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 mathematician

Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

, mechanician

Mechanics

Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....

 and physicist

Physicist

A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

.

Steklov was born in Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. In 1887, he graduated from the Kharkov University, where he was a student of Aleksandr Lyapunov

Aleksandr Lyapunov

Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov was a Russian mathematician, mechanician and physicist. His surname is sometimes romanized as Ljapunov, Liapunov or Ljapunow....

. In 1889–1906 he worked at the Department of Mechanics of this University. He became a full professor in 1896. During 1893–1905 he also taught theoretical mechanics in the Kharkov Technological Institute (now known as Kharkiv Polytechnical Institute). In 1906 he started working at Petersburg University

Saint Petersburg State University

Saint Petersburg State University is a Russian federal state-owned higher education institution based in Saint Petersburg and one of the oldest and largest universities in Russia....

. In 1921 he petitioned for the creation of the Institute of Physics and Mathematics. Upon his death the institute was named after him. The Mathematics Department split from the Institute in 1934. It is now known as Steklov Institute of Mathematics

Steklov Institute of Mathematics

Steklov Institute of Mathematics or Steklov Mathematical Institute is a research institute based in Moscow, specialized in mathematics, and a part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It was established April 24, 1934 by the decision of the General Assembly of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in...

.

Steklov's primary scientific contribution is in the area of orthogonal

Orthogonality

Orthogonality occurs when two things can vary independently, they are uncorrelated, or they are perpendicular.-Mathematics:In mathematics, two vectors are orthogonal if they are perpendicular, i.e., they form a right angle...

 functional

Function (mathematics)

In mathematics, a function associates one quantity, the argument of the function, also known as the input, with another quantity, the value of the function, also known as the output. A function assigns exactly one output to each input. The argument and the value may be real numbers, but they can...

 sets. He introduced a class of closed orthogonal sets, developed asymptotic Liouville–Steklov method for orthogonal polynomials

Orthogonal polynomials

In mathematics, the classical orthogonal polynomials are the most widely used orthogonal polynomials, and consist of the Hermite polynomials, the Laguerre polynomials, the Jacobi polynomials together with their special cases the ultraspherical polynomials, the Chebyshev polynomials, and the...

, proved theorems on generalized Fourier series

Generalized Fourier series

In mathematical analysis, many generalizations of Fourier series have proved to be useful.They are all special cases of decompositions over an orthonormal basis of an inner product space....

, and developed an approximation technique later named Steklov function. He also worked on hydrodynamics and the theory of elasticity

Solid mechanics

Solid mechanics is the branch of mechanics, physics, and mathematics that concerns the behavior of solid matter under external actions . It is part of a broader study known as continuum mechanics. One of the most common practical applications of solid mechanics is the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation...

.

Steklov wrote a number of works on the history of science.

Steklov died in Gaspra

Gaspra

Gaspra is a spa town in Crimea, Ukraine. It is located on the Black Sea coast, west of Yalta, and is a popular holiday resort. Leo Tolstoy lived in Gaspra in 1901 and 1902.The asteroid 951 Gaspra is named after Gaspra.-Places to see:...

, Crimea

Crimea

Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

, USSR (now Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

). He was interred in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, Russia.

External links