Vladimir Andreyevich Uspensky (Russian: Влади́мир Андре́евич Успе́нский; 27 November 1930 – 27 June 2018) was a Russian

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 ...

, linguist, writer, doctor of physics and mathematics (1964). He was the author of numerous papers on

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 ...

and

linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

. In addition, he also penned a number of memoir essays. Uspensky initiated a reform of linguistic education in Russia.

Biography

Uspensky graduated in 1952 from the MSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics (Lomonosov Moscow State University). He was a student of

Andrey Kolmogorov Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov ( rus, Андре́й Никола́евич Колмого́ров, p=ɐnˈdrʲej nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ kəlmɐˈɡorəf, a=Ru-Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov.ogg, 25 April 1903 – 20 October 1987) was a Soviet ...

. He was the head of the Chair of Mathematical Logic and Theory of Algorithms in the MSU Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics (1995) and one of the founders of the Structural Linguistics branch (now the Theoretical and Applied Linguistics branch) in the MSU Faculty of Philology, where he also taught. He was the author of many books and of over 100 research papers. He prepared 25

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

s and 4 doctors of sciences. His book "The Apology of Mathematics" received in 2010 the “Enlightener" award in the field of natural and exact sciences. He was a distinguished professor at the Moscow State University (1998). His brother

Boris Uspenskij Boris Andreevich Uspenskij () (born 1 March 1937, in Moscow) is a Russian linguist, philologist, semiotician, historian of culture. Biography Uspenskij graduated from Moscow University in 1960. He delivered lectures in Moscow until 1982, ...

is a distinguished Russian philologist and mythographer.

References

V.A. Uspensky. Труды по нематематике. М.: ОГИ, 2002, т. I—II.
(т.1), (т.2)
Chapter from the book "Апология математики"

* ttp://www.premiaprosvetitel.ru/news/view/?82 V.A. Uspensky: Lecture on mathematics as part of the culture, and the Poincare conjecture

External links

Mathematics Genealogy Project entry

Dynkin Collection entry with video interviews

Russian listing of publications

Math-Net.ru list of publications, including video lectures
1930 births 2018 deaths Linguists from Russia Russian mathematicians Russian non-fiction writers Writers from Moscow Moscow State University alumni Academic staff of Moscow State University Soviet mathematicians {{Russia-linguist-stub