Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh (russian: Мстисла́в Все́володович Ке́лдыш; – 24 June 1978) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

who worked as an engineer in the

Soviet space program The Soviet space program (russian: Космическая программа СССР, Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR) was the national space program of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), active from 1955 until the dissoluti ...

. He was the

academician An academician is a full member of an artistic, literary, engineering, or scientific academy. In many countries, it is an honorific title used to denote a full member of an academy that has a strong influence on national scientific life. In syst ...

of the

Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

(1946), President of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (1961–1975), three-time Hero of Socialist Labour (1956, 1961, 1971), and fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (1968). He was one of the key figures behind the Soviet space program. Among scientific circles of the USSR Keldysh was known by the epithet "the Chief Theoretician" in analogy with epithet "the Chief Designer" used for

Sergei Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, ...

Family

Keldysh was born to a professional family of

Russian nobility The Russian nobility (russian: дворянство ''dvoryanstvo'') originated in the 14th century. In 1914 it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members (about 1.1% of the population) in the Russian Empire. Up until the February Revolutio ...

. His grandfather, Mikhail Fomich Keldysh (1839–1920), was a military

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, who retired with the military rank of

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

. Keldysh's grandmother, Natalia Keldysh (née Brusilova), was a cousin of general Aleksei Brusilov. Keldysh's maternal grandfather, Alexander Nikolayevich Skvortsov, was a General of Infantry, and fought in the

Caucasian War The Caucasian War (russian: Кавказская война; ''Kavkazskaya vojna'') or Caucasus War was a 19th century military conflict between the Russian Empire and various peoples of the North Caucasus who resisted subjugation during the ...

. Keldysh's father, Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh (1878–1965), was a civil engineer,

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

of the Engineering Service, and a full professor, teaching at the Kuybyshev Military Engineering Academy from 1918. He became a ''Distinguished Engineering Scientist of the Soviet Union'' (Заслуженный деятель науки и техники СССР) in 1944. He was one of the authors of contemporary methods for calculating the strength of reinforced concrete, and a designer of the

Moscow Canal The Moscow Canal (russian: Кана́л и́мени Москвы́), named the Moskva–Volga Canal until 1947, is a canal in Russia that connects the Moskva River with the Volga River. It is located in Moscow itself and in the Mosc ...

and

Moscow Metro The Moscow Metro) is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first ...

projects. Several members of the Keldysh family were victims of political repressions. In the 1930s Keldysh's uncle was sent to a labor camp on the

White Sea–Baltic Canal The White Sea–Baltic Canal (russian: Беломо́рско-Балти́йский кана́л, , ), often abbreviated to White Sea Canal () is a ship canal in Russia opened on 2 August 1933. It connects the White Sea, in the Arctic Ocean, with ...

construction site. In 1935 Keldysh's mother was arrested but was released after a few weeks. It was a part of the campaign of collecting gold from the population, but after Keldysh's father brought all the jewelry the family had, the unsatisfied

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

officer returned "all this garbage" back. Keldysh's brother Mikhail, a historian who specialized in

Medieval Germany The Germani tribes i.e. Germanic tribes are now considered to be related to the Jastorf culture before expanding and interacting with the other peoples. The concept of a region for Germanic tribes is traced to time of Julius Caesar, a Roman ge ...

, was arrested in 1936 and executed in 1937 on suspicion of being a German spy. In 1938 another of Keldysh's brothers, Alexander, was arrested as a French spy. Alexander was spared because of the slight liberalization of the repressions during the transfer of the NKVD leadership from Nikolai Yezhov to

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolsheviks ...

, and was acquitted in the court. The strongest influence on Keldysh was his older sister, Lyudmila Keldysh (1904–1976), a mathematician and Keldysh's first teacher. Among her children are

Leonid Keldysh Leonid Veniaminovich Keldysh (; 7 April 1931 – 11 November 2016) was a Soviet and Russian physicist. Keldysh was a professor in the I.E. Tamm Theory division of the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and a ...

, director of

Lebedev Physical Institute The Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI RAS or just LPI) (in russian: Физи́ческий институ́т имени П.Н.Ле́бедева Российской академии наук (ФИАН)), situated ...

and Sergei Novikov, a mathematician.

Biography

Keldysh was born in 1911 in Riga. When he was four the family evacuated to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In the first years of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

he was refused entrance to an Institute of Civil Engineers because of his attachment to a noble family. Later, he managed to enter and graduate from the

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and Mathematics department of the

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

. He obtained employment at the

Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute The Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (also (Zhukovsky) Central Institute of Aerodynamics, russian: Центра́льный аэрогидродинами́ческий институ́т, ЦАГИ, Tsentral'nyy Aerogidrodinamicheskiy Institut, ...

(TsAGI) under Mikhail Lavrentyev and

Sergey Chaplygin Sergey Alexeyevich Chaplygin (russian: Серге́й Алексе́евич Чаплы́гин; 5 April 1869 – 8 October 1942) was a Russian and Soviet physicist, mathematician, and mechanical engineer. He is known for mathe ...

. Working at TsAGI he explained the auto-oscillation effects of flutter (in-flight auto-induced oscillations and structural deformations), and

shimmy A shimmy is a dance move in which the body is held still, except for the shoulders, which are quickly alternated back and forth. When the right shoulder goes back, the left one comes forward. History In 1917, a dance-song titled "Shim-Me-Sha ...

(auto-oscillation in the nose-wheel of aircraft undercarriages while on the ground). The effects were responsible for many aircraft catastrophes at the time. In 1937 Keldysh became

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

with his dissertation entitled ''Complex Variable and Harmonic Functions Representation by Polynomial Series'', and was appointed a

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

. In 1943 he became a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. He got his first

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize (russian: links=no, Государственная премия СССР, ...

in 1946 for his works on aircraft auto-oscillations. In 1943 he also became a full member of the Academy and the Director of NII-1 (Research Institute number 1) of the Department of the Aviation Industry. He also headed the Department of Applied Mechanics of the Steklov Institute of Mathematics. In 1966 the department was named after him to become the

Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics The Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics (russian: Институт прикладной математики им. М.В.Келдыша) is a research institute specializing in computational mathematics. It was established to solve computati ...

. During the 1940s Keldysh became the leader of a group of applied mathematicians involved in almost all large scientific projects of the Soviet Union. Keldysh created the ''Calculation Bureau'' that carried most of the mathematical problems related to the development of

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

s. The bureau is also credited with design of the first Soviet computers. In 1947 he became a member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

. Keldysh's main efforts were devoted to

jet propulsion Jet propulsion is the propulsion of an object in one direction, produced by ejecting a jet of fluid in the opposite direction. By Newton's third law, the moving body is propelled in the opposite direction to the jet. Reaction engines operatin ...

and

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

s including supersonic

gas dynamics Compressible flow (or gas dynamics) is the branch of fluid mechanics that deals with flows having significant changes in fluid density. While all flows are compressible, flows are usually treated as being incompressible when the Mach number (the ...

heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

and

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

exchange, and heat shielding. 1959 saw successful testing of the Soviet first cruise missile

Burya The ''Burya'' ("Storm" in Russian; russian: Буря) was a supersonic, intercontinental cruise missile, developed by the Lavochkin design bureau (chief designer Naum Semyonovich Chernyakov) under designation La-350 from 1954 until the program can ...

. In 1954 Keldysh,

and

Mikhail Tikhonravov Mikhail Klavdievich Tikhonravov (July 29, 1900 – March 3, 1974) was a Soviet engineer who was a pioneer of spacecraft design and rocketry. Mikhail Tikhonravov was born in Vladimir, Russia. He attended the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy from 1922 ...

submitted a letter to the Soviet Government proposing development of an

artificial satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisoto ...

to orbit the Earth. The letter was rejected, and the group filed exaggerated Soviet newspaper articles which influenced American authorities to start satellite programs. This in turn began the effort that culminated in the world's first satellite, Sputnik 1 in October 1957, which marked the beginning of mankind's

Space Age The Space Age is a period encompassing the activities related to the Space Race, space exploration, space technology, and the cultural developments influenced by these events, beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1 during 1957, and continuin ...

. In 1955 Keldysh was appointed chairman of the Satellite Committee at the Academy of Science. In recognition of his contribution to the problems of defense Keldysh was awarded the Hero of Socialist Labour (1956) and the Lenin Prize (1957). In 1961 he received a second Hеrо of Socialist Labour award for his contribution to

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. T ...

's flight into space, the first person to orbit the Earth. In 1961 Keldysh was elected President of the Academy of Sciences and kept this position for 14 years. Concomitantly, he became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. His last scientific works were devoted to creation of the

Shuttle Buran ''Buran'' (russian: Буран, , meaning "Snowstorm" or "Blizzard"; GRAU index serial number: 11F35 1K, construction number: 1.01) was the first spaceplane to be produced as part of the Soviet/Russian Buran program. Besides describing the fir ...

. In 1962 he was elected a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Keldysh was 67 when he died on June 24, 1978. He was honoured with a state funeral and his ashes were buried in the

Kremlin Wall Necropolis The Kremlin Wall Necropolis was the national cemetery for the Soviet Union. Burials in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow began in November 1917, when 240 pro-Bolshevik individuals who died during the Moscow Bolshevik Uprising were buried in m ...

Red Square Red Square ( rus, Красная площадь, Krasnaya ploshchad', ˈkrasnəjə ˈploɕːətʲ) is one of the oldest and largest squares in Moscow, the capital of Russia. Owing to its historical significance and the adjacent historical build ...

Awards and honors

Keldysh was a member of many foreign academies of sciences, including the Mongolian Academy of Sciences (1961),

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society o ...

(1962),

Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences The Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Czech: ''Československá akademie věd'', Slovak: ''Česko-slovenská akadémia vied'') was established in 1953 to be the scientific center for Czechoslovakia. It was succeeded by the Czech Academy of Science ...

(1962), and

Romanian Academy of Sciences The Romanian Academy of Sciences was an institution established in Romania by a group of 26 scientists, dissatisfied with the imperfect organization of the Scientific Section of the Romanian Academy, which was left in the background, with only 12 ...

(1965). He was also an honorary member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

(1966), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1966), Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1970), and Royal Society of Edinburgh (1968), foreign corresponding member of the German Academy of Sciences (1966), and Saxon Academy of Sciences in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

(1966). Keldysh was awarded the

(1942, 1946), Lenin Prize (1957), six

Orders of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...

, three other orders, numerous medals and four foreign orders. The crater Keldysh on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

, and the research vessel ''

Akademik Mstislav Keldysh The R/V ''Akademik Mstislav Keldysh'' (russian: Академик Мстислав Келдыш) is a 6,240 ton Russian scientific research vessel. It has made over 50 voyages, and is best known as the support vessel of the ''Mir'' submersibles. ...

'' are named after him. A

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...

, 2186 Keldysh discovered in 1973 by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh, is named in his honor. A street (Akadēmiķa Mstislava Keldiša iela) was named after Keldysh in the district of

Pļavnieki Pļavnieki is a Riga neighbourhood situated to the right of the river Daugava. Territory of the Pļavnieki for many centuries was used as agricultural land and was added to Riga only in 1974. The name "Pļavnieki" is derived from Latvian word "p ...

in his native Riga, Latvia. On 15 December 2022, the street was renamed Brāļu Kaudzīšu Street.

References

External links

*
Keldysh Institute for Applied MathematicsM. V. Keldysh memorial page
(at Keldysh Institute site)
Biography of Keldysh

* A.I. Ostashev, ''Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov - The Genius of the 20th Century'' — 2010 M. of Public Educational Institution of Higher Professional Training MGUL . * "Bank of the Universe" - edited by Boltenko A. C.,

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

, 2014., publishing house "Phoenix",
Mstislav Keldysh
/Family history * S. P. Korolev. ''Encyclopedia of life and creativity'' - edited by C. A. Lopota, RSC Energia. S. P. Korolev, 2014
NASA segments
!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20190714114525/https://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/harford.html --> {{DEFAULTSORT:Keldysh, Mstislav 1911 births 1978 deaths Scientists from Riga Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute employees Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Foreign Members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology faculty Moscow State University alumni Presidents of the Russian Academy of Sciences Presidents of the USSR Academy of Sciences Sixth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Seventh convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Eighth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Ninth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Heroes of Socialist Labour Stalin Prize winners Lenin Prize winners Recipients of the Lomonosov Gold Medal Recipients of the Order of Georgi Dimitrov Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Early spaceflight scientists Male non-fiction writers Soviet inventors Soviet mathematicians Soviet male writers Soviet non-fiction writers Soviet space program personnel Soviet spaceflight pioneers Burials at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis

Family

Biography

Awards and honors

See also

References

External links