Lev Schnirelmann

Lev Genrikhovich Schnirelmann (also Shnirelman, Shnirel'man; Лев Ге́нрихович Шнирельма́н; January 2, 1905 – September 24, 1938) was a Soviet mathematician who worked on number theory, topology and differential geometry.

Lev G. Schnirelmann
Born(1905-01-02)January 2, 1905
Gomel, Russian Empire
DiedSeptember 24, 1938(1938-09-24) (aged 33)
Moscow, RSFSR, Soviet Union
NationalityRussian
Alma materMoscow State University
Known forLusternik–Schnirelmann category
Schnirelmann density
Schnirelmann's constant
Schnirelmann's theorem
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics
InstitutionsSteklov Mathematical Institute
Doctoral advisorNikolai Luzin

Work

Schnirelmann sought to prove Goldbach's conjecture. In 1930, using the Brun sieve, he proved that any natural number greater than 1 can be written as the sum of not more than C prime numbers, where C is an effectively computable constant.[1][2]

His other fundamental work is joint with Lazar Lyusternik. Together, they developed the Lusternik–Schnirelmann category, as it is called now, based on the previous work by Henri Poincaré, George David Birkhoff, and Marston Morse. The theory gives a global invariant of spaces, and has led to advances in differential geometry and topology. They also proved the theorem of the three geodesics, that a Riemannian manifold topologically equivalent to a sphere has at least three simple closed geodesics.

Biography

Schnirelmann graduated from Moscow State University in 1925 and then worked at the Steklov Mathematical Institute from 1934 to 1938. His advisor was Nikolai Luzin.

Schnirelmann committed suicide in Moscow on September 24, 1938, for reasons that are not clear. According to Lev Pontryagin's memoir from 1998, Schnirelmann gassed himself, due to depression brought on by feelings of inability to work at the same high level as earlier in his career.[3][4] On the other hand, according to an interview Eugene Dynkin gave in 1988, Schnirelman took his own life after the NKVD tried to recruit him as an informer.[5]

gollark: Oh. I assumed they meant some COVID-19 milestone, but apparently they just meant the capitol mess.
gollark: Oh yes, true, blood loss is probably not linear.
gollark: Of course.
gollark: Of course, they should just unhook themselves from the blood draining machine.
gollark: Well, in this model, it is already too late, as they cannot make blood not go below 40% regardless of thing done.

See also

References
  1. Schnirelmann, L.G. (1930). "On the additive properties of numbers", first published in Proceedings of the Don Polytechnic Institute in Novocherkassk (in Russian), vol XIV (1930), pp. 3–27, and reprinted in Uspekhi Matematicheskikh Nauk (in Russian), 1939, no. 6, 9–25.
  2. Schnirelmann, L.G. (1933). First published as "Über additive Eigenschaften von Zahlen" in Mathematische Annalen (in German), vol 107 (1933), 649-690, and reprinted as "On the additive properties of numbers" in Uspekhi Matematicheskikh Nauk (in Russian), 1940, no. 7, 7–46.
  3. "Л.С.Понтрягин. Жизнеописание".
  4. O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Lev Schnirelmann", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews.
  5. "The Eugene B. Dynkin Collection of Mathematics Interviews: Akiva M. Yaglom" (PDF). dynkincollection.library.cornell.edu. Cornell University Library. December 2, 1988. Retrieved April 11, 2020.

Further reading
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