Larisa Lvovna Maksimova (; 5 November 1943 – 4 April 2025) was a Russian

mathematical logic Mathematical logic is the study of Logic#Formal logic, formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory (also known as computability theory). Research in mathematical logic com ...

ian known for her research in

non-classical logic Non-classical logics (and sometimes alternative logics or non-Aristotelian logics) are formal systems that differ in a significant way from standard logical systems such as propositional and predicate logic. There are several ways in which this ...

Life and career

Maksimova was born on 5 November 1943, in Kochenyovo, the daughter of two biologists who had temporarily moved there from

Tomsk State University The National Research Tomsk State University, TSU () is a public research university located in Tomsk, Russia. The university, which opened in 1888, was the first university in the Asian part of Russia and, in practice, the first Russian univ ...

to escape the war. She grew up in

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...

, where her parents became geographers at the Novosibirsk Pedagogical Institute. She studied mechanics and mathematics at

Novosibirsk State University Novosibirsk State University (NSU) is a public research university located in Novosibirsk, Russia. The university was founded in 1958, on the principles of integration of education and science, early involvement of students with research act ...

, publishing her first paper on

Wilhelm Ackermann Wilhelm Friedrich Ackermann (; ; 29 March 1896 – 24 December 1962) was a German mathematician and logician best known for his work in mathematical logic and the Ackermann function, an important example in the theory of computation. Biograph ...

axiom An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or ...

s for

strict implication In logic, a strict conditional (symbol: \Box, or ⥽) is a conditional governed by a modal operator, that is, a logical connective of modal logic. It is logically equivalent to the material conditional of classical logic, combined with the necessit ...

relevance logic Relevance logic, also called relevant logic, is a kind of non-classical logic requiring the antecedent and consequent of implications to be relevantly related. They may be viewed as a family of substructural or modal logics. It is generally, b ...

in 1964 and graduating in 1965. Meanwhile, in 1964, she joined the

Sobolev Institute of Mathematics The Sobolev Institute of Mathematics (SIM) was founded in 1957 by Sergei Sobolev. It is located in Akademgorodok and it constitutes part of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Sergey S. Goncharov is the director. The institute ...

, and remained there for the rest of her career. She defended her doctorate at Novosibirsk State University in 1968, a year after the death of her primary mentor at the university,

Anatoly Maltsev Anatoly Ivanovich Maltsev (also: Malcev, Mal'cev; Russian: Анато́лий Ива́нович Ма́льцев; 27 November N.S./14 November O.S. 1909, Moscow Governorate – 7 June 1967, Novosibirsk) was born in Misheronsky, near Moscow, and ...

. She completed a

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

at the Sobolev Institute in 1986, and was promoted to full professor in 1993. She died on 4 April 2025, at the age of 81.

Recognition

Maksimova won the Maltsev Prize of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

in 2009, for her papers on definability and

interpolation In the mathematics, mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one ...

. With several others from the Sobolev Institute, she won the Russian Federation Government Prize in Education in 2010. She is the subject of a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

, ''Larisa Maksimova on Implication, Interpolation, and Definability'' (Sergei Odintsov, ed., Springer, 2018).

Books

Maksimova's books include *''Problems in Set Theory, Mathematical Logic and the Theory of Algorithms'' (with Igor Lavrov, Izdat Nauka, 1975, 1984, and 1995; translated into English by Valentin Shehtman, Kluwer, 2003) *''Interpolation and Definability: Modal and Intuitionistic Logics'' (with

Dov Gabbay Dov M. Gabbay (, ; born October 26, 1945) is an Israeli logician. He is Augustus De Morgan Professor Emeritus of Logic at the Group of Logic, Language and Computation, Department of Computer Science, King's College London. Work Gabbay has autho ...

, Clarendon Press, 2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maksimova, Larisa 1943 births 2025 deaths Russian mathematicians Russian women mathematicians Mathematical logicians Women logicians Novosibirsk State University alumni People from Novosibirsk Oblast