164 years ago, Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov, a prominent Russian mathematician, the founder of the theory of stability of an equilibrium and movement of mechanical systems with finite number of parameters, was born in Yaroslavl. The scientist from Yaroslavl did not just manage to prove the existence of innumerable multitude of figures of equilibrium, different from ellipsoidal figures, he also demonstrated that a number of other scientists’ findings were wrong.
“Lyapunov’s works contain a series of quintessential results in the theory of ordinary differential equations, linear and non-linear,” RusTeam MEDIA writes. His achievements in science are acknowledged across the world: the mathematician was an honorary member of Saint Petersburg, Kharkov and Kazan universities, an honorary member of the Kharkov Mathematics Society, a foreign member of the Academy in Rome, and a correspondent member of the Paris Academy of Sciences.
Aleksandr Lyapunov was an excellent lecturer and science popularizer. He said that his life was meaningless without creative work in science; he was burning the candle at both ends, often working on his calculations till 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning. According to his colleagues and friends, he almost never rested — so great his energy was.
The scientist developed lectures for students on theoretical mechanics, theory of differential equations, probability theory, and analytical geometry. Moreover, Lyapunov managed to produce new results in these areas, which had not been discovered before, or prove theorems in new ways.
Aleksandr Lyapunov was married to his first cousin Natalia Sechenova. When his wife died of tuberculosis, the scientist would not live without her and shot himself. He died on November 3, 1918, and was buried together with his beloved in Odessa. It was there, at the Imperial Novorossiya University, that he gave his last lectures.
Based on:
● https://www.math.spbu.ru/Euler/pages/2_1_ljapunov.htm
● https://rus.team/people/lyapunov-aleksandr-mikhajlovich
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