Mikhail Lavrentyev

Lavrentyev was born in Kazan, where his father was an instructor at a college (he later became a professor at Kazan University, then Moscow University).

He entered Kazan University, and, when his family moved to Moscow in 1921, he transferred to the Department of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. He graduated in 1922. He continued his studies in the university in 1923-26 as a graduate student of Nikolai Luzin.

Although Luzin was alleged to plagiarize in science and indulge in anti-Sovietism by some of his students in 1936, Lavrentyev did not participate in the notorious political persecution of his teacher which is known as the Luzin case or Luzin affair. In fact Luzin was a friend of his father.

In 1927, Lavrentyev spent half a year in France, collaborating with French mathematicians, and upon returned took up a position with Moscow University. Later he became a member of the staff of the Steklov Institute. His main contributions relate to conformal mappings and partial differential equations. Mstislav Keldysh was one of his students.

In 1939, Oleksandr Bogomolets, the president of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, asked Lavrentyev to become director of the Institute of Mathematics at Kyiv.

One of Lavrentyev's scientific interests was the physics of explosive processes, in which he had become involved when doing defense work during World War II. A better understanding of the physics of explosions made it possible to use controlled explosions in construction, the best-known example being the construction of the Medeu Mudflow Control Dam outside of Almaty in Kazakhstan.