Mykhailo Pylypovych Kravchuk, also Krawtchouk () (September 27, 1892 – March 9, 1942), was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Ukrainian

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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

and the author of around 180 articles on mathematics. He primarily wrote papers on differential equations and

integral equations In mathematical analysis, integral equations are equations in which an unknown Function (mathematics), function appears under an integral sign. In mathematical notation, integral equations may thus be expressed as being of the form: f(x_1,x_2,x_3 ...

, studying both their theory and applications. His two-volume monograph on the solution of linear differential and integral equations by the method of moments was translated 1938–1942 by

John Vincent Atanasoff John Vincent Atanasoff (October 4, 1903 – June 15, 1995) was an American physicist and inventor credited with inventing the first electronic digital computer. Atanasoff invented the first electronic digital computer in the 1930s at Iowa Stat ...

who found this work useful in his computer-project ( Atanasoff–Berry computer). His student

Klavdiya Latysheva Klavdiya Yakovlevna Latysheva (Russian: ; Ukrainian: ; born 14 March 1897, Kyiv, Russian Empire – 11 May 1956, Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Kyiv, Ukraine)) was a Soviet mathematician known for her contributions to the theory of diff ...

was the first Ukrainian woman to obtain a doctorate in the mathematical and physical sciences (1936). Kravchuk held a mathematics chair at the

Kyiv Polytechnic Institute The Kyiv Polytechnic Institute ( KPI, ; official full title National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute") is a national public technological university in Kyiv, Ukraine. Name In the long period of existenc ...

. His course listeners included

Sergey Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (14 January 1966) was the lead Soviet Aerospace engineering, rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. He invented the R-7 Sem ...

Arkhip Lyulka Arkhip Mykhailovich Lyulka (, ; 23 March 1908 – 1 June 1984) was a Soviet engineer and designer of jet engines, head of the OKB Lyulka, member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union. Biography He was born in Savarka village in the ...

, and

Vladimir Chelomei Vladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey or Chelomei (, ; 30 June 1914 – 8 December 1984) was a Soviet engineer and designer in the missile program of the former Soviet Union. He invented the first Soviet pulse jet engine and was responsible for develo ...

, future leading rocket and jet engine designers. Kravchuk was arrested by the Soviet secret police on February 23, 1938 on political and spying charges. He was sentenced to 20 years of prison in September 1938. Kravchuk died in a

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

camp in the

Kolyma Kolyma (, ) or Kolyma Krai () is a historical region in the Russian Far East that includes the basin of Kolyma River and the northern shores of the Sea of Okhotsk, as well as the Kolyma Mountains (the watershed of the two). It is bounded to ...

region on March 9, 1942. In September 1956 Kravchuk was posthumously acquitted of all charges. He was restored as a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine posthumously in 1992. He is the

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

of the Kravchuk polynomials and Kravchuk matrix.

References

External links

*
MacTutor biography
this uses the transliteration ''Mikhail Krawtchouk'', which is phonetic for Francophones, and under which he published work)
Ukrainian biographical website

Krawtchouk Polynomials Home Page

S. Hrabovsy, Mykhailo Kravchuk, a mathematician, patriot and precursor of computers, Welcome to Ukraine, 4, 2003

N. Virchenko, Life and death of Mykhailo Kravchuk, a brilliant mathematician, Welcome to Ukraine, 2, 2008INTERNATIONAL MATHEMATICAL KRAVCHUK CONFERENCE
Soviet mathematicians Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni 1892 births 1942 deaths People from Volyn Oblast People from Volhynian Governorate Ukrainian people who died in Soviet detention Full Members of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences Russian scientists {{Ukraine-scientist-stub