‘An Epoch in Soviet-Russian Mathematics’

On August 3^rd 2023, Viktor Maslov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Tenured Professor at HSE University, Distinguished Professor of HSE University, prominent world-renowned mathematician, and Head of the first School of Applied Mathematics in the USSR (MIEM), died at the age of 93. Here, some colleagues of Prof. Maslov pay tribute to him.

Evgenii Krouk
Academic Supervisor and Director of MIEM HSE

Viktor Maslov is an epoch. Not in the life of MIEM, not in the life of HSE University, but an epoch in Soviet-Russian mathematics. Not only did he obtain outstanding results in mathematics itself, butProf. Maslov also had the ability to see where, and in what applied problems, these results could and should be used. Furthermore he had the right and ability to take responsibility for this use. Let us recall that it was Maslov that had to give and indeed, did give, an answer to the fateful question about the reliability of the sarcophagus around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Alexander V. Belov
Head of School of Applied Mathematics at MIEM HSE

Viktor Maslov has passed away. His entire life was closely connected with the Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics.

In 1968, when MIEM was five years old, the School of Applied Mathematics appeared within its structure. It was headed by Viktor Maslov, a 38-year-old professor of the Physics Department of Moscow State University. The school’s first employees were Prof. Maslov’s post-graduate students. And in subsequent years, the school was replenished with graduates from MIEM and Moscow State University, the vast majority of whom were alsoProf. Maslov’s students. Thus, a young and very active scientific team was formed—Viktor Maslov’s school.

Throughout its existence, the School of Applied Mathematics has been one of the leading educational and scientific centres not only within Russia, but also in the world. Its Head was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1978, the Lyapunov Medal in 1983, the Lenin Prize in 1986, and elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, leapfrogging the stage of  corresponding member. In 1998 and 2013, he was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation, and in 2000,the Demidov Prize.

One of the brightest events in the school’s life and indeed in the life of the entire MIEM was the creation of a ‘special group’—an elite group selected from the best first-year students and following a special programme with many non-standard mathematical disciplines. A number of leading Russian scientists of global renown (such as V. Arnold, Yu. Manin, etc.) were invited to teach in this group. The training result was remarkable in this group —6 years after graduation, most of the graduates had found their place in science: 16 out of the 26 group graduates were already candidates of science.

Right up to his final days, Viktor Maslov was keenly interested in the affairs of the Institute and School of Applied Mathematics. His advice and ideas were embodied in a unique system of courses in selected areas of modern ‘high’ mathematics, mathematical physics, and mathematical and computer modelling. In particular educational programmes in Applied Mathematics and System Analysis and Mathematical Technologies use his ideas on a daily basis.

All of us who knew and came into contact with Prof. Maslov, will remember him and continue his work.

Sergei Lando
Professor of the Faculty of Mathematics, the Faculty’s Academic Supervisor

Throughout his long academic life, his research was distinguished by originality and incredible productivity. The concept of a Lagrangian manifold introduced by him, a geometric object that expresses the essence of classical studies in the field of mechanics dating back to Newton, has become key not only in mathematical physics, but also in topology and modern analysis. It formed the basis of Maslov’s quantisation procedure and the numerical characteristics of topological objects entitled the ‘Maslov index’by V. Arnold. This was the geometric approach that ensured the success and universal recognition of asymptotic methods for analysing the integrals of physical nature developed by V. Maslov and his students and followers; methods that find numerous applications in quantum theories.

From the 1960s onwards, the professional life of V. Maslov was inextricably linked with the MIEM School of Applied Mathematics. He determined the entire process of mathematical training at the institute, and trained dozens of highly professional researchers. For many years, he was editor-in-chief of the Matematicheskie Zametki journal, a role he put his soul and an enormous amount of work into.

Victor Maslov will always live in the memory of those who knew him personally or studied using his books.

August 03, 2023