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Dmitrij Grave and his time. Dedicated to the 80th birthday of President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine B. E. Paton. (Dmitrij Grave i vremya.) (Russian) Zbl 0922.01024

Kiev: Naukova Dumka. 268 p. (1998).
This book is about the life and scientific and pedagogical activities of Dmitrij Aleksandrovich Grave (1863-1939), who was a professor of Kyiv University and an academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. His long-term pedagogical activity in Kyiv University is highly impressing. Among professor Grave students were the following well-known mathematicians: B. N. Delone, O. Yu. Shmidt, N. G. Chebotarjov, A. Ostrovskij, P. Kravchuk, M. G. Krein, N. I. Akhiezer, V. P. Vel’min, E. I. Zhilinskyj, N. M. Krylov, Yu. D. Sokolov, V. E. D’yachenko, A. L. Naumov, M. Kh. Orlov and others. Professor Grave’s did a lot for the development of mathematical education in Russia and Ukraine. He wrote a number of textbooks and monographs. His main works are: Theory of Groups (1908, 204 pp.), Elementary Course of Theory of Numbers (1909, 340 pp. or 1913, 416 pp.), Course of Algebraic Analysis (1910, 512 pp.), Encyclopedia of Mathematics. An Essay on Its Current State (1912, 601 pp.), Mathematics of Insurance Business (1912, 87 pp.), Elements of Higher Algebra (1914, 698 pp.), Basics of Algebra (1915, 316 pp.), Theory of Pension Savings Banks (1917, 68 pp.), Concise Course of Mathematical Analysis (1924, 368 pp.), Mathematics of Social Insurance (1924, 151 pp.), Theoretical Mechanics on the Technical Basis (1930, 394 pp.), Treatise on Algebraic Analysis (1938, v.I, 196 pp.; v.II, 399 pp.).
The author of this book used rare sources and archives. He showed the whole complexity of the social and political processes in Ukraine of the twenties and thirties and their influence on the creative work of professor Grave and his contemporaries. We list the titles of the book chapters and give brief descriptions of their content.
Chapter 1. The origins of Grave’s family and his youth. Christian Gotlib Grave, a Danish major, who came to Russia with the retinue of the future Russian emperor Peter the Third, was the founder of Grave’s family. One of his sons adopted Orthodoxy and was christened as Daniil Petrovich (his godfather was Peter the Third). The father of Dmitrij Aleksandrovich, Aleksandr, belonged to the fourth generation of the Grave family descended from Daniil. Dmitrij was born on August, 20 in 1863 in the town Kirillov, where his father was the marshal of the nobility. In 1873 Dmitrij began his studies in Petersburg at the private school of F. F. Bychkov, who was a well-known pedagogue and mathematician, the author of a book on algebraic problems. In 1881 Dmitrij completed his studies at the school with the golden medal.
Chapter 2. Petersburg University. In 1881 Dmitrij Grave was admitted to the Department of Mathematics and Physics at the Mathematics Faculty of the Petersburg University. There he attended lectures of such outstanding mathematicians as P. L. Chebyshev, K. A. Posse, A. A. Markov, Yu. V. Sokhotskij. His main teacher was Aleksandr Nikolaevich Korkin. In 1885 he was graduated from the University. Grave’s Master’s thesis “On the integration of partial differential equations of the first order” was rather close to Korkin’s research. In 1889 Grave began to give lectures at Petersburg University (courses in analytic geometry, higher algebra, differential calculus and a special course in the theory of surfaces). In 1896 Grave defended his Doctor’s dissertation “On the main problems of mathematical theory of constructing maps.”
Chapter 3. Professor of Kharkov University. With the help of professor A. M. Lyapunov in 1899 Grave was elected for the position of the ordinary professor of Kharkov University. During the work in Kharkov University Grave was especially friendly with the professors A. M. Lyapunov and V. A. Steklov.
Chapter 4. St. Vladimir University. In December 1901 Grave was elected for the position of the ordinary professor of the Department of Pure Mathematics of Kyiv St. Vladimir University. He rejected old scholastic methods of teaching that were established in the University and applied the new ones based on the acquaintance with the modern achievements of mathematics and on student’s participation in the creative work. Two algebraic seminars were started. In 1908 Grave for the first time presented his course Theory of Groups. So the period of time between 1908 and 1916 was the golden age of the Grave Algebraic School in Kyiv.
Chapter 5. Ukrainian National Universities. For the first time we have the opportunity to get acquainted with the archives data about the Ukrainian Folk University that was founded in Kyiv in 1917. D. A. Grave and M. P. Kravchuk took active part in the work of the Mathematical Department. We can also learn about Grave’s participation in the organization of the Tavricheskij University that existed between 1917 and 1919 in Crimea.
Chapter 6. Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (UAS). Ukrainian Academy of Sciences was founded in 1918. In 1920 D. A. Grave became an academician. D. A. Grave was among the founders of the first mathematical bodies of the Ukrainian Academy – Institute of Mathematics, Institute of Geometry, Commission for Applied Mathematics and Mechanics. For the first time documents pertinent to the research in the Ukrainian Academy are published.
Chapter 7. Research Department of Mathematics. In 1920 universities in Ukraine were closed down. Research work in mathematics was concentrated in the research departments. Starting from 1923 D. A. Grave was the head of the Section of Applied Mathematics. During these years his scientific interests embraced celestial mechanics (the problem of three bodies), theoretical mechanics and theoretical electrical engineering. In 1934 different departments and commissions were united and the Institute of Mathematics was founded. D. A. Grave became the first head of the Institute.
The book is very interesting and rich in content. It is not only about the life of an outstanding professor of mathematics but also about the most dramatic years in the history of Ukrainian society.
Reviewer: M.Yadrenko (Kiev)

MSC:

01A70 Biographies, obituaries, personalia, bibliographies
20-03 History of group theory
01A72 Schools of mathematics
15-03 History of linear algebra
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