Mitrofan Cioban (5 January 1942 – 2 February 2021) was a

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnist ...

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 ...

specializing in

topology In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ho ...

, a member of the

Academy of Sciences of Moldova The Academy of Sciences of Moldova ( ro, Academia de Științe a Moldovei), established in 1961, is the main scientific organization of Moldova and coordinates research in all areas of science and technology. Ion Tighineanu has been the head of t ...

(2000). He was born in Copceac (then in Tighina County,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

, now in

Ștefan Vodă District Ștefan Vodă () is a district ( ro, raion) in the south-east of Moldova, with the administrative center at Ștefan Vodă. As of 1 January 2011, its population was 71,900. The district is situated 100 km from Chișinău and 100 km from ...

), the son of Mihail and Tecla Cioban. At age 17 he enrolled in the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of Tiraspol State University. After one year Cioban transferred to

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 ...

, where he started attending the Topology seminar of

Pavel Alexandrov Pavel Sergeyevich Alexandrov (russian: Па́вел Серге́евич Алекса́ндров), sometimes romanized ''Paul Alexandroff'' (7 May 1896 – 16 November 1982), was a Soviet mathematician. He wrote about three hundred papers, ma ...

. He obtained his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 1969 with thesis ''Properties of Quotient Mappings and Classification of Spaces'' written under the direction of

Alexander Arhangelskii Alexander Vladimirovich Arhangelskii (russian: Александр Владимирович Архангельский, ''Aleksandr Vladimirovich Arkhangelsky'', born 13 March 1938 in Moscow) is a Russian mathematician. His research, comprising ove ...

. Upon graduation, he returned in 1970 to Tiraspol State University as a faculty member, where he directed 17 Ph.D. theses and served as prorector and then

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

. He published over 200 papers in academic journals from 1966 to 2020, mostly under the names of Choban or Čoban, and occasionally Cioban, Ciobanu, or Coban. Starting in 1999 he served as president of the

Mathematical Society of the Republic of Moldova The Mathematical Society of the Republic of Moldova is ( ro, Societatea Matematică din Republica Moldova) is a non-governmental organisation promoting interests of mathematicians A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of ...

, with headquarters in Chișinău. He died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

on 2 February 2021 in Chișinău during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Moldova The COVID-19 pandemic in Moldova is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was confirmed to have reached the Republic of Moldova on 7 March 202 ...

Publications

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References

External links

* 1942 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Moldovan mathematicians 21st-century Moldovan mathematicians People from Ștefan Vodă District Moscow State University alumni Academic staff of Shevchenko Transnistria State University Algebraists Topologists Titular members of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova Recipients of the Order of Honour (Moldova) Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Moldova {{mathematician-stub