Translated material
Alexey Andreevich Lyapunov - flashes of memory
On November 10, 2011, the Academy of Sciences hosted a conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the outstanding mathematician, one of the founders of cybernetics, Alexei Andreevich Lyapunov (1911-1973). Relatives, students and friends of the scientist gathered in the Blue Hall of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences. On this day Yu.I. performed. Zhuravlev, S.P. Kapitsa, N.N. Konstantinov, V.M. Tikhomirov, S.E. Shnol and other famous researchers. We publish excerpts from some of the speeches. Video recordings of all the memories of the great scientist can be found on the website Mathnet.ru ( http://goo.gl/XOTgm ).
Sergey Petrovich Kapitsa, Dr. physics and mathematics sciences, professor.
Lyapunov and I were connected by our families. He is my mother’s second cousin, and I called him “Uncle Alyosha.” ...I crossed paths with A.A. back when I worked on computers. … Alexey Andreevich worked in the department of applied mathematics, I was doing my calculations, we talked a lot about cybernetics. Moreover, he had Wiener’s book ^Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine”, 1948, translation into Russian published in the USSR in 1958. - Ed.). It was kept censored in his safe; I could read it, naturally, in English. It was impossible to take it out. A.A. In general, he was very careful in handling such documents. But for me, of course, it was incredibly interesting to read this fundamental work in the original.
...The second place where we intersected was the fate of biological science and what physicists did to help biologists overcome the resistance of famous figures associated with Lysenko. I would like to use the personality of A.A. and this conference to look at everything that happened a little more broadly. Why did it happen that the most important areas from theoretical and practical points of view—modern biology and computational mathematics—faced such obstacles in our country? A very serious question. ...In fact, there was a complex, partly behind the scenes and imperceptible struggle between the “forces of Evil” and the “forces of Good” around all this.
Alexey Andreevich, of course, had amazing charm and dedication to his work. On this path he was supported by such strong people of the scientific world as Keldysh and Berg, who were his “soldiers”. But why did we begin persecution of these areas of science? After all, a campaign was being prepared against physics, and it was saved, judging by the published materials, only by the fact that modern physics was necessary to create atomic bombs. But in biology and computational mathematics there were practically no such “saving” things; if they were, then in an implicit form. And it so happened that A.A. Then he accomplished a civic feat by taking up the fight against this. He was a member of the party, went through the war, and his life path and confidence in his own rightness undoubtedly gave him the strength to speak, speak and act. At the same time, he took a lot of risks, but won.
However, anti-scientific tendencies have persisted in our country to this day. I see parallels between the forces that hampered the development of science in the most important areas 60 years ago and what we see today. Why did this happen? Why does a country that has such a rich tradition in science face forces that oppose its development? Often this merges with religious sentiments... This is a difficult and obscure process.
I would like to use the biography, life and work of A.A. to remind you that the forces against which Aleksey Andreevich fought are very active today, moreover, this applies to all science. . This is perhaps a sad result. I remember when we were discussing cybernetics, I tried to instill optimism in Uncle Alyosha and told him: “The time will come when your portrait, with a beard like Karl Marx’s, will hang in the cybernetics department and students will be removed from their scholarship if they don’t pass this cybernetics test.” " And he: “How can this be! What are you talking about?". But that’s what happened, and today we honor a wonderful man, a patriot and a citizen of our country.
Vladimir Andreevich Uspensky, Dr. physics and mathematics Sciences, professor at Moscow State University.
Alexey Andreevich Lyapunov is a bright phenomenon in the spiritual culture of our country, a bright phenomenon in fate, in the memory of every person with whom he communicated. (.) It was clear that he was in love with science and truth. He was ready not only to seek the truth, but to fight for it. He fought for cybernetics, risking his career - for genetics they generally went to prison, but for cybernetics they still didn’t go to prison, but nevertheless... He was fearless, like Don Quixote. But Don Quixote fought with windmills, and Lyapunov fought with a completely real opponent and with a completely unclear outcome. He always supported everything new that was just breaking through the asphalt and that was about to be run over by the asphalt roller of power. Lyapunov always tried to stand across such a skating rink, and sometimes he managed to move it away. This made an incredible impression, including on me. It seems that the gene of those Lyapunovs who participated in the Troubles at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries somehow came out in him.
(...) I remember the 1955/1956 academic year, the case of the Lyapunov sisters at the Faculty of Biology: they were going to be expelled from the Komsomol, kicked out of the university, etc. for engaging in incorrect biology - not “Michurin’s”, not Lysenko’s, but real biology - mathematical biology and so on. These are sisters Lyalya and Tusya - now they are Elena Alekseevna and Natalya Alekseevna, doctors of biological sciences, then they were Lyalya and Tusya.
There was a loud scandal, and it reverberates very strongly at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics - that someone was going to be expelled for studying mathematical biology. I remember very well how at about this time (I don’t remember exactly the year) I was walking along the corridor of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, past the door where some kind of meeting was taking place (in my opinion, a meeting of the Academic Council of the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics), and I heard a completely hysterical cry: “Obscurantist ! This is the head of the department of celestial mechanics, Nikolai Dmitrievich Moiseev, yelling at Alexei Andreevich Lyapunov, who gave some kind of report on mathematical methods in biology or something like that. And this word, this cry “Obscurantist!” I still have it in my ears...
Well, time and history have shown who the obscurantist is. A N.D. Moiseev was a complex and intelligent person, I must say. He walked on crutches - a war invalid, hung with orders. Super partisan. He was a serious figure in those years.
(...) In 1959, the Russian translation of the book “Introduction to Cybernetics” by the English psychiatrist and cyberneticist William Ashby was published. This was an important factor in the development of cybernetics in the USSR in 1959, because until 1956 cybernetics was prohibited. I was always perplexed: why was it necessary to ban it? On the contrary, if the enemy, the “American military and warmongers” use it, this pseudoscience must be developed in every possible way and palmed off to them - let them continue to rely on this “pseudoscience” in their aggressive-imperialist plans. But for some reason this logic did not work.
Wiener's book was published in the original in 1948, and our translation was published in 1958, and Ashby's book was published in 1956, and ours in 1959, that is, very quickly. On the title page of Ashby's book there are three other names in addition to Ashby. The first is by Andrei Nikolaevich Kolmogorov, who wrote a wonderful preface. He was also one of the first fighters for cybernetics. (.) When this book came out, I decided that the first person to whom I needed to give it was Alexey Andreevich. And what should I write? You can, of course, simply write: dear, dear. But I decided that I needed to write to “The Father of Soviet Cybernetics.” I say this with some pride, because no one had used this term before. And I decided that all authors, in particular Kolmogorov, should sign. But this is a responsible matter—is he ready? I went to Kolmogorov and asked: “Andrei Nikolaevich! So I’m going to write on your behalf to “The Father of Soviet Cybernetics” and give it to you to sign. Do you agree with this formulation? He said, “I agree.” After this, it was written “To the Father of Soviet cybernetics, dear Alexei Andreevich Lyapunov,” and everyone (except Ashby) signed it. (.)
Nikolai Nikolaevich Konstantinov, a well-known organizer of mathematical education, one of the creators of the system of mathematical classes in Moscow, the permanent leader of the international mathematical competition - the Tournament of Cities, in which schoolchildren from all over the world take part.
My first meeting with Alexei Andreevich took place in the fall of 1948. Lectures for schoolchildren at Moscow State University were announced. My friend and I came to a lecture on theoretical arithmetic, which was to be given by Igor Vladimirovich Arnold (03/06/1900 - 10/20/1948. - Ed.) [1]. We arrived, there was a sad crowd of schoolchildren, and we were informed that I.V. died. For some time we were in some shock, and then a lecturer was found who occupied us so that we did not feel that we had come in vain. It was A.A. Lyapunov. Apparently, they managed to quickly persuade him to give a lecture. It was devoted to set theory. A.A. told us a theorem that the set of points on a segment is uncountable, but I didn’t understand the proof. And during the break, I went up to the board and began asking him questions... A certain crowd formed around me. Alexey Andreevich began to explain the proof, but I understood absolutely nothing. This was my first meeting with him.
Time passed, I graduated from the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University, worked there for five years as an assistant in Tikhonov’s department, and then decided to go to graduate school, just in time to work with Alexei Andreevich. When I approached him, I began to explain who I was. And he says: “Yes, I know you.” I was a little surprised, how could it be, where did it come from? “I remember, I gave a lecture on set theory, and you were among the audience.” I told him: “So I didn’t understand anything then.” “No, you, of course, did not understand, but not understand there are different ways to . I remember you and will gladly take you to graduate school.”
We thank Vitaly Arnold for his help in preparing the publication.