"Without it, we will be darker ..."

On January 4, 2017, Vitaliy Dmitrievich Arnold, an enlightener, one of the creators of the Moscow Center for Continuous Mathematical Education, Summer Schools in Dubna, a well -known organizer of schoolchildren and extracurricular learning Olympiads, and a teacher of informatics of gymnasium informatics No. 1543, died in a car accident. Farewell to Vitaly took place on January 9 in Moscow.

Moscow Mathematical Society (the text is written by the academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.A. Vasiliev ):

The Board of MMO with pain reports that on January 4, 2017, the wonderful worker of Russian mathematical education Vitaly Dmitrievich Arnold tragically died.

The outstanding teacher and organizer, the main engine of summer schools in Dubna, the real head of the Olympiads, the creator of key information resources in the field of mathematical education, Vitaly Dmitrievich combined spirituality and romanticism in his motivations and initiatives with amazing common sense, energy and enterprise in their implementation. Communication with him was extremely beneficial for raising children, and for adults who had happiness to be with him. Without it, it will be noticeably more difficult for us and darker in our way.

* * *

Lev Beklemyshev , Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, teacher at summer schools in Dubna:

Vitaly Dmitrievich Arnold was an outstanding man. The combination of magnificent erudition, charisma, leadership and business qualities made him a unique teacher and organizer of mathematical and around-mathematical life in Moscow. I met him thanks
One of his great deeds is a summer mathematical school in Dubna. It is thanks to his organizational talent and human qualities that this summer school became the unique event that it is. The combination of scientists-mathematicians of different generations, primary courses and “children” students-high school students (as well as a very young generation from the teachers' families)-in the conditions of a wonderful atmosphere created primarily by V. D., communication beyond the framework of lectures and the educational process was no less important and fascinatingly than these very lectures. Only because of participating in the conversation of V.D. and in. U. Over the morning coffee in the organizing committee’s room, you could force yourself to tear your eyes before breakfast (and then come to Dubna from year to year). The future will show whether Dubna will remain after, alas, irreplaceable loss for us.

In communication, V. D. left the feeling that he was familiar with his interlocutor much better than an interlocutor with him. It really was like this: the circle of his acquaintances was much wider than the circle of familiar typical mathematics, while he was vividly interested in what was happening around and knew who was who. He knew how to formulate his point of view on any issue by a reasoned and clear way.

And even if sometimes our opinions could disperse, it was always very useful to find out what he thinks and, most importantly, why. He invariably retained goodwill and respect for the interlocutor, for me, conversations with V. D. were always some kind of spiritual and easy. (The last one is our conversation at the entrance to Mian-who would have thought then-concerned an insignificant object-relative- = ny virtues of various bicycle castles.)

For the mathematical community of our country, Vitaly Dmitrievich served as a ligament with a school and olympiads, was a keeper of the traditions of mathematical education and an expert on the “legends” of the university environment. He kept a lot on his shoulders and turned
their energy to do good deeds. Everyone who knows the real state of things understand that the loss of V.D. - This is not only a loss of a reliable friend, but also a heavy blow to the mathematical community of our country.

* * *

Tatyana and Sergey Nikitin, bards:

The news of the death of Vitaly shocked us. It is terribly insulting that fate ordered so unfair.

In our reality, when there was no one to rely on, it was so important to realize that there is Vitaly Arnold nearby-a person who will never say “no” to your request, who is always ready to explain something incomprehensible, help as a specialist and just as a responsive person.

It is probably not for nothing that Vitaly devoted his life to the children, because you can’t spend them on the chaff. Children unmistakably felt an honest, decent, intelligent and internally completely free man in Arnold's teacher. With the departure of Vitaly, many people will feel or orphaned, including us.

* * *

Mikhail Gelfand, Mikhail Feigelman, Galina Zirlin, Boris Stern (“Expert Corps”):

On May 10, 2007, we first gathered at the MCNMO to discuss the future project “Expert Corps”. However, the name seems to have not yet been, and even more so there was no understanding of how to act specifically. There were “Stern lists” on Scientific. Ru, good intentions and Ivan Yashchenko, who undertook to help - he did it extremely effectively, bringing Vitaly Arnold to us that day. It was Vitaliy on October 10, 2007, pressed the Cond-Mat first button and then almost two years almost daily debugged and raised all our many problems. And then already in a stationary mode, when a professional base was earned and a small team of technical specialists developed, he remained a patient adviser and a universal consultant.

Vitaly, of course, the best of all understood the principles of data storage, and the features of human perception (letters - addressees, site - spectators). And most importantly, he very firmly and quickly understood where the trait was taking place, separating the private modifications of the original - it must be said, idealistic - plan and dangerous deviations from the principles of this plan.

Of course, our project was one of many promoted to them in parallel (as Vitaly noted, “I have not two problems”). We regularly got wonderful products of his publishing activities and all new links to the network resources he created. There were rare, but always very important meetings at the MCNMO and at school No. 1543, when it was possible to discuss where our whole design should continue to move. It happened that Vitaly with an experimental eye looked at ExpertCorps.ru and sent the notes that we have laid out. The last time it was in November 2016 in connection with the memorial list and necrologists in it; He wrote then: “I really do not like this business. But it is more and more likely ... "

Vitaly Arnold was extremely team, bright and hard in the views of man. We were very lucky to cross with him in life, it’s a pity that only in the incomplete 10 years.

* * *

Ksenia Gilyarova , linguist, jury member of the International Olympiad in Linguistics, Task composer:

At a summer linguistic school in Dubna, he wore small children on his shoulders, and the elders served as a springboard for jumping into the water. And in my life I always felt his shoulders and his springboard. He always helped everyone, could solve any problem, it was not scary and reliable with him.

He was always ready to save our Olympiad linguistic fraternity and shelter: in Dubna, at McMno and the Center for Pedagogical Mastery. When this November MPSU unexpectedly refused to hold a festival of languages ​​two days before the festival, with the help of Vitaly the festival was lightning speed to the CPM and successfully held there.

When in April we selected the International Olympiad in Linguistics, we did not agree well who was responsible for what, and suddenly found ourselves in front of closed doors and without printed tasks. We called Arnold, woke him with an early Sunday call, and he
He raised the phone on the ears in the CPM, they gave us the keys and printed everything. At the same time, Vitaly, of course, promised us to kill, because he did not tolerate irresponsibility, inorganization and hack in nothing - nor in important matters, nor in the little things.

I think everyone who knew Vitaly Arnold was owed him something. His untimely departure is great injustice and great grief for all of us. We will always remember him with warmth and gratitude.

* * *

Alexander Kovalji , deputy. Director of the Lyceum "Second School":

I knew Vitaly for a long time, but I knew little, I was not at his house, I did not work together. I saw from the side his tremendous energy and emotions. He had a wonderful memory, including all sorts of jokes. I met Vitaly at the Institute of Steel and Lefes, where I led a circle in mathematics, and Vitaly - in computer science. The talent of the organizer, and in the gymnasium 1543, and at the center of continuous mathematical education, was especially pronounced in Vitaly. He could sit down until late at night, if it demanded that. It was nice to feel the positive that came from Vitaly, he never doubted the success of the plan, because he knew his capabilities and his employees. Vitaly was a creator and was not a combustible, i.e. He gave a lot more than he received. Children loved him, the relationship was informal, but demanding. Vitaly was a universal, loved not only mathematics, but was also a connoisseur of a bard song, organized evenings in the gymnasium 1543, read and traveled a lot. He also liked to make gifts, just for no reason, simply because you went to visit him, because, this disc or this book will come in handy to you. He was all interested in everything, he everywhere distributed valuable advice and important information, simply because he enjoyed the process of promoting something necessary and good. There was a boiling layer around it, in which many schoolchildren and young organizers studied. Vitaly left, but left us a sample of his skill and optimism. * * *

Ivan Arzhantsev, doct. physical. sciences, dean of the Faculty of Computer Sciences of the Higher School of Sciences:

I knew Vitaly for many, many years. Each time, coming to a summer school in Dubna, I came to the opening of the school. This event is long, ends late. At first - the representations of the courses, then Vitaly and Alexey Bronislavovich Sosinsky tell about the history of the school, its goals and traditions. And in the end - Vitaly’s story about the daily routine and rules of behavior. I always stayed in the hall until the end of the story.

The story of how the idea of ​​holding the Modern Mathematics schools arose, how to rent a bicycle for a trip to Dubnu and what is the algorithm for the actions of the School of the School, who wants to swim in the river, I heard many times. But each time the story of Vitaly was very bright and original. And I could not deny myself the pleasure of listening to a new version of this wonderful story. It is probably strange that I am writing about it now. There is a lot of big and important that I would like to remember. But the first thing he thought about when he found out about the death of Vitaly was the discoveries of Dubninsky schools.

Vitaly lived what he did. Without this, you cannot do something truly significant. There are few such people, and everything holds on them.

* * *

Alexander Buftutov, Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vedas. scientific. sore. Mian:

We met in July 2002 in Dubna. A new business acquires festivities by its novelty; But in order for it to take place and gain a foothold, someone must, generously sacrificing time and effort, convince all participants in the seriousness of the beginning business. Vitalik, who knew how to be everywhere at the same time, was aware of everything, proved that Dubna is serious and important. Vitalik, bathing children in Dubna, is one of my brightest memories.

The evening of poems was, they say, already at the first school. The wording “(day) (time) (place) will read poetry. Come! " belongs to Vitalik. First they gathered in the organizing committee, then in one of the halls Vitalik read Alexander Galich and Novella Matveev. Once he read poetry about Alexander Blok Boris Pasternak. When I complained that the “New Year” was listened to inattentively, Vitalik advised long things to put closer to the beginning.

In the last evenings, Vitalik read little, but always came. The laptop, lying on his knees, kept the texts, which were coping with, among them and I - for the last time at the last evening, when, having decided to join the readers of Yesenin, I could not accurately recall the verses dedicated to Cannegiser. Vitalik later told me about the fate of the family of the executed poet.

The successful project itself is putting on its very success before the danger of repeating the already tested. Dubna gave a new one. In 2016, the first lecture was given to Stanislav Konstantinovich Smirnov for the first time. On the spatool of Shakespeare that opened by the 68th sonnet of the poems, Schiller (in the original) and Kawafis (translated by Shmakov) sounded for the first time. Dubna-2016 was bright, and plans were born.

New Year struck a terrible blow. God forbid that the summer school survives.

* * *

Sergey Shmulian, analitic engineer, Google New York City:

From the very beginning, he is for me-by name-patronymic. Like me for him. But not because of food or subordination-we are both seventeen years old, we are fresh freshmen, and we joke just this form of circulation. Then the study, the army, campaigns, poems, songs, concerts, ranges, an old communal apartment on the Arbat, noisy companies, long walks with small compositions, conversations on eternal topics, searching for meaning and harmony and much more and where - enough for a book (except for jokes). Among the numerous joint “entertainment” is to give verbal characteristics to new acquaintances and check the adequacy of their assessments after some time. It does not reach the mutual characteristics of each other, this is not the slightest need, everything is extremely transparent - until thirty with a dump of years, its turn comes.

These days, many talk about him - the "Enlightener". This is a good, correct word - but, in my opinion, not quite covering the whole deep meaning of even his professional activity, not to mention the personal component. First of all, he is a ascetic. A person who pushes a huge, clumsy cart along a dangerous, difficult mountain road to himself set a goal that is hidden in a sky -high -high height - not for the sake of money, honors and glory, but solely because he is sure that the goal is worthy of these efforts. A person who is guided on his hard path exclusively with his impeccable moral landmarks and absolute inner purity-which for some reason seems quite natural even in the frenzy of cynicism, pettiness and lies that rule the realities of the surrounding world. And what is especially important - a person who infects with his confidence and the principles of all who find themselves in the field of his attraction - without them the task would, of course, be overwhelmed even for him. And so with each of a dozen business, one of which would have been more than enough for a lifetime - but which he pulls and pushes at the same time with visible ease.

From a young age, some do not like him for excessive directness, absolute confidence in their innocence, stubborn unwillingness to bend and play “according to the rules”. (A few years ago, he is declared to the Kremlin to present government awards in jeans and a T -shirt - the only one of the laureates. And when his turn comes up, completely unexpectedly for the minister awards, it comes to the conversation about the former - the benefit of classmates.) Of course, the usual thing for the ascetic - without a fair amount of stubbornness, can not be achieved.

He patiently carries his burden and, it would seem, does not react to criticism in any way, continuing to do his job as he considers necessary. However, to those who are allowed to penetrate the fence, a thin, vulnerable nature opens, deeply and sincerely experiencing all kinds of malfunctions and constantly looking for ways to improve, in the best traditions of the intelligentsia, from which he is flesh from the flesh. At the same time, in all his external manifestations, he looks so modest and natural, sometimes even funny that no high words like an “intellectual” come to mind-both himself and others obviously that a normal person simply cannot behave differently.

Three and a half years ago. End of July. I am in Moscow after eighteen years of break and six years after the previous meeting (in New York, but with all the family at that time). He, as always, leads Dubnu, a terribly rich program - but promises to try to get out. It is chosen for a day, we are hanging in the center and chatting, as in good old days. I am organizing him with an important boss in the Moscow office of Google on a possible sponsorship support. The interlocutor (in many ways an extraordinary person and also in some way as a ascetic, on his own initiative, the leading schoolchildren to work) is very impressed with the variety and depth of the presented projects and promises to contribute. Ultimately, it does not develop with sponsorship (the Moscow office is too small to offer anything meaningful), but the impression is persisted for a long time.

Three months ago. The beginning of October. I am going to the song festival in this very tartu and tell him about this on Facebook, along with congratulations on the forty -eighth anniversary, vaguely hoping to use this opportunity to meet - he has long adores Estonia, and especially Tartu. I report too late. He gets to Facebook only a month later. It is lamented that just in Tartu could get out, despite the exhausted, if I read it on time. And yet it is chosen in its favorite city as an opportunity - after another two months. The rest is history.

Я получаю сообщение (о его гибели) в том же «Фейсбуке» около половины одиннадцатого утра по Москве, выходя из поезда метро в центре Парижа, где я проездом из Израиля в Нью-Йорк. Не в силах оторваться от смартфона, бреду по переходам не разбирая дороги, пока случайный выход не выводит меня к Нотр-Даму. Я не понимаю до конца смысла происходящего, но чувствую, что время и место правильное. (Ко всему прочему крутится мысль о том, что его дядя, один из крупнейших математиков и просветителей прошлого века, умер именно в этом городе.) Под чарующие звуки рождественского хорала в течение часа наматываю круги по храму в толпе прочих посетителей — пока наконец не решаюсь поставить свечку, впервые в жизни (я не сторонник внешних эффектов любого толка). Немного легчает. Главный вопрос для меня, как и в других подобных случаях, — не «почему?», а «зачем?». Любое событие, даже самое трагическое, в значительной мере результат серии случайностей и совпадений, а в мистику я не верю. Правильная интерпретация и руководство к действию, как минимум для себя, — другое дело. Полной ясности на этот счет у меня пока нет, слишком мало времени прошло. Но одна вещь мне очевидна. Он продолжает вести за собой к тем самым высоким заоблачным целям — как и раньше. Каждого из тех, кому выпало с ним пересечься, — к своей (или своим). Правда, прямых указаний больше не будет, но это несущественно. Достаточно всего лишь сохранить настрой на правильную волну — ту же, что и раньше. И никогда больше не терять его.

При всем своем перфекционизме он наконец вполне может быть доволен. Давние дискуссии о высоком успешно завершены. Смысл обретен, гармония достигнута. Well done, man.

Воспоминания о Виталии Арнольде публикуются на сайте http://olimpiada.ru/vitar .

Читайте также подробное интервью Юлии Фридман с Виталием: http://imperium.lenin.ru/~yulya/pics/arnold-interview.html .