Nikolai Grigorievich Chebotaryov (often spelled Chebotarov or Chebotarev; ; ; – 2 July 1947) was a Soviet

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 ...

. He is best known for the Chebotaryov density theorem. He was a student of

Dmitry Grave Dmytro Oleksandrovych Grave (, ; 6 September 1863 – 19 December 1939) was a Ukrainian, Russian and Soviet mathematician. Naum Akhiezer, Nikolai Chebotaryov, Mikhailo Kravchuk, and Boris Delaunay were among his students. Brief history Dmit ...

. Chebotaryov worked on the algebra of polynomials, in particular examining the distribution of the zeros. He also studied

Galois theory In mathematics, Galois theory, originally introduced by Évariste Galois, provides a connection between field (mathematics), field theory and group theory. This connection, the fundamental theorem of Galois theory, allows reducing certain problems ...

and wrote a textbook on the subject titled ''Basic Galois Theory''. His ideas were used by

Emil Artin Emil Artin (; March 3, 1898 – December 20, 1962) was an Austrians, Austrian mathematician of Armenians, Armenian descent. Artin was one of the leading mathematicians of the twentieth century. He is best known for his work on algebraic number t ...

to prove the

Artin reciprocity law The Artin reciprocity law, which was established by Emil Artin in a series of papers (1924; 1927; 1930), is a general theorem in number theory that forms a central part of global class field theory In mathematics, class field theory (CFT) is the f ...

. He worked with his student Anatoly Dorodnov on a generalization of the

quadrature of the lune In geometry, the lune of Hippocrates, named after Hippocrates of Chios, is a lune (mathematics), lune bounded by Circular arc, arcs of two circles, the smaller of which has as its diameter a Chord (geometry), chord spanning a right angle on the l ...

, and proved the conjecture now known as the

Chebotarev theorem on roots of unity The Chebotarev theorem on roots of unity was originally a conjecture made by Ostrowski in the context of lacunary series. Chebotarev was the first to prove it, in the 1930s. This proof involves tools from Galois theory and pleased Ostrowski, ...

Early life

Nikolai Chebotaryov was born on 15 June 1894 in

Kamianets-Podilskyi Kamianets-Podilskyi (, ; ) is a city on the Smotrych River in western Ukraine, western Ukraine, to the north-east of Chernivtsi. Formerly the administrative center of Khmelnytskyi Oblast, the city is now the administrative center of Kamianets ...

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 ...

(now in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

). He entered the department of physics and mathematics at

Kiev University The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

in 1912. In 1928, he became a professor at

Kazan University Kazan Federal University (; ) is a public research university located in Kazan, Russia. The university was founded in 1804 as Imperial Kazan University, which makes it the second oldest continuously existing tertiary education institution in Rus ...

, remaining there for the rest of his life. He died on 2 July 1947. He was an atheist. On 14 May 2010, a memorial plaque for Nikolai Chebotaryov was unveiled on the main administration building of I.I. Mechnikov Odessa National University."Chebotaryov, Nikolai Grigorievich." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. 2008 - http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2830900875.html

References

1894 births 1947 deaths People from Kamianets-Podilskyi People from Kamenets-Podolsky Uyezd Ukrainian people of Russian descent 20th-century Russian mathematicians Soviet mathematicians Russian atheists Ukrainian mathematicians Number theorists Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Stalin Prize Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Russian scientists {{Russia-mathematician-stub