Mkhitar Djrbashian (also M. M. Dzhrbashjan, M. M. Jerbashian; Russian: Мхитар Мкртичевич Джрбашян; Armenian: Մխիթար Մկրտչի Ջրբաշյան

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

mathematician, who made significant contributions to the constructive theory of functions, harmonic analysis, Complex analysis, theory of analytic functions and a fundamental contribution to the classical theory of univalent analytic functions. He was born in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

in a family of refugees from the town Van of

Western Armenia Western Armenia (Western Armenian: Արեւմտեան Հայաստան, ''Arevmdian Hayasdan'') is a term to refer to the western parts of the Armenian highlands located within Turkey (formerly the Ottoman Empire) that comprise the historic ...

escaping from the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

of 1915 in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Mkhitar Djrbashian created some well-known mathematical theories (see, e.g.) and did everything possible for the development of Armenian Mathematical School to the high international standards in many branches of mathematics.

Family

Djrbashian was born to an old Van family, established before the fourteenth century, long before the rise of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, by a successful merchant who returned to his homeland from

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and bought a piece of land in the Aygestan (Armenian: Այգեստան, i.e. gardens) district of Van. The community water source was in his land, and his family got the obligation to make a fair distribution of the scarce water among the channels to Aygestan gardens for many centuries, according to quotas established by the community. This was the origin of the family name Jerbashkhian (Armenian: Ջրբաշխյան, i.e. water distributor). Mkhitar Djrbashian's father Mkrtich was one of the seven founders of the Van Guild of Merchants, which anticipated the possibility of Turkish military actions against the civilian population of their town and started collecting weapons for self-defense. In June 1915, he participated as a soldier in people's volunteer corps against the Turkish regular army sent to massacre all Armenian inhabitants and surrounding villages. Thanks to the offensive of the

Russian Army The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces. The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...

or, more exactly, its Armenian volunteer unit, the inhabitants of Van and some villagers of the

Vaspurakan Vaspurakan (, Western Armenian pronunciation: ''Vasbouragan'') was the eighth province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, which later became an independent kingdom during the Middle Ages, centered on Lake Van. Located in what is now southeaster ...

Province were saved and then migrated with the Russian Army to the

Erivan Governorate The Erivan Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its centеr in Erivan (present-day Yerevan). Its area was 27,830 sq. kilometеrs, roughly corresponding to what is now most of central ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. In the first years of the Soviet regime, Mkrtich Jerbashkhian continued importing European goods and selling them in the shops of his commercial company in Yerevan,

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, and

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

. For this reason, he was deprived of voting rights in the

Soviet Union 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 ...

and his elder son Mkhitar was excluded from the last year of school. Mkrtich Jerbashkhian kept secret his fluency in French and German languages and his political views to avoid

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

repression. Other branches of the Jerbashkhian family also were forced to leave their fatherland. Some of them migrated to

and Tiflis, others appeared as refugees in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. Mkhitar Djrbashian had two sisters: Sirvard (1904–1990) and Gohar (1921–2000), and a brother Eduard Jerbashkhian (1923–1999), a literary critic, full member of the

Armenian National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) (, ''Hayastani Hanrapetut’yan gitut’yunneri azgayin akademia'') is the Armenian national academy, functioning as the primary body that conducts research and coordinates activ ...

(1982) and the director of its Institute of Literature from 1977 to 1999. The family name Jerbashkhian later was simplified to Jerbashian, and it appears as Dzhrbashjan or Djrbashian in many mathematical publications in accordance with the Russian spelling.

Biography

Mkhitar Djrbashian was born in Yerevan on September 11, 1918. Being deprived of continuing his

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

in Yerevan, he accomplished his school education in Tiflis in 1936, thanks to the assistance of his uncle's family. Back in Yerevan after

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's declaration that "children are not responsible for their parents", Mkhitar Djrbashian could enroll in

Yerevan State University Yerevan State University (YSU; , , ), also simply University of Yerevan, is the oldest continuously operating public university in Armenia. Founded in 1919, it is the largest university in the country. It is thus informally known as Armenia's ...

, where his scientific activities were encouraged by Prof. Artashes Shahinian, a talented teacher who directed his pupils mainly to

Approximation theory In mathematics, approximation theory is concerned with how function (mathematics), functions can best be approximation, approximated with simpler functions, and with quantitative property, quantitatively characterization (mathematics), characteri ...

. Mkhitar Djrbashian was greatly influenced by the results of

Rolf Nevanlinna Rolf Herman Nevanlinna (né Neovius; 22 October 1895 – 28 May 1980) was a Finnish mathematician who made significant contributions to complex analysis. Background Nevanlinna was born Rolf Herman Neovius, becoming Nevanlinna in 1906 when his fa ...

in complex analysis, which he studied attending lectures delivered by

Mstislav Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh (; – 24 June 1978) was a Soviet mathematician who worked as an engineer in the Soviet space program. He was the academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (1946), President of the Academy of Sc ...

at Yerevan State University in 1944. This directed his scientific research to the field of

complex analysis Complex analysis, traditionally known as the theory of functions of a complex variable, is the branch of mathematical analysis that investigates functions of complex numbers. It is helpful in many branches of mathematics, including algebraic ...

. Under the supervision of Prof. Artashes Shahinian, Mkhitar Djrbashian was the first to defend a

Candidate of Sciences A Candidate of Sciences is a Doctor of Philosophy, PhD-equivalent academic research degree in all the post-Soviet countries with the exception of Ukraine, and until the 1990s it was also awarded in Central and Eastern European countries. It is ...

Thesis in mathematics at Yerevan State University in 1945, with some new, original results on weighted Nevanlinna classes of

meromorphic functions In the mathematical field of complex analysis, a meromorphic function on an open subset ''D'' of the complex plane is a function that is holomorphic on all of ''D'' ''except'' for a set of isolated points, which are ''poles'' of the function. ...

(see Section 216 in ). In 1949 Mkhitar Djrbashian defended his

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

Thesis in

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

with excellent references from Prof.

, Prof.

Alexander Gelfond Alexander Osipovich Gelfond (; 24October 19067November 1968) was a Soviet mathematician. Gelfond's theorem, also known as the Gelfond–Schneider theorem, is named after him. Biography Alexander Gelfond was born in Saint Petersburg, Russian ...

and Prof. Alexei Markushevich :ru:Маркушевич, Алексей Иванович. Being the leading figure in the mathematics of Armenia, a Full Member of Armenian Academy of Sciences from 1956, Mkhitar Djrbashian did everything possible for the development of Armenian Mathematical School to the high international standards in many branches of mathematics. He was the founder and the director of

Institute of Mathematics of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia The Institute of Mathematics of National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (Armenian language, Armenian: ) is owned and operated by the Armenian Academy of Sciences, located in Yerevan. History The Institute of Mathematics of National Academy of Sci ...

(1971–1989), then the honorary director of the same institute up to his death on May 6, 1994, of a heart attack. He was the founder of Izvestiya Natsionalnoi Akademii Nauk Armenii, Matematika (English translation: Journal of Contemporary Mathematical Analysis, Armenian Academy of Sciences, Allerton Press Inc.

and its editor in chief (1971–1994), the Dean of the Physical-Mathematical and then Mechanical-Mathematical Department of

(1957–1960), and the head of the Chair of Function Theory (1978–1986).

References

External links

*
Mkhitar Djrbashian
at :en:Mathematical Reviews, MathSciNet
Mkhitar Djrbashian
at

National Academy of Sciences of Armenia The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) (, ''Hayastani Hanrapetut’yan gitut’yunneri azgayin akademia'') is the Armenian national academy, functioning as the primary body that conducts research and coordinates activ ...

Mkhitar Djrbashian's 90th anniversary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Djrbashian, Mkhitar 1918 births 1994 deaths 20th-century Armenian mathematicians Scientists from Yerevan Moscow State University alumni Yerevan State University alumni Academic staff of Yerevan State University Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Soviet mathematicians