×

In memory of Yuriĭ Vasil’evich Prokhorov. With an introduction by V. A. Sadovnichiĭ. (Книга памяти. Юрий Васильевич Прохоров.) (Russian) Zbl 1476.60004

Moscow: Izdatel’stvo “Soglasie” (ISBN 978-5-907038-46-2). 340 p. (2019).
In any scientific area there are names which, for good reasons, are quickly recognizable. Yuri Vasilyevich Prokhorov (1929–2013) is such a name in the area of probability and statistics. During his long professional life, Yu. V. was strongly connected with Moscow State University, his Alma Mater, and Steklov Mathematical Institute. Yu. V. was lucky to be one of the scientists of a few generations who grew up under the supervision of the great Andrey N. Kolmogorov (1903–1987).
The book under review is not about the scientific contribution of Yu. V. to the development of probability theory. On these aspects there are books and papers which are well known.
The present book is a collections of articles written in Russian language by former students, friends, relatives and/or colleagues of Yu. V. Each of the authors is sharing her/his memories of Yu. V. Each article is an attractive story. Some of the stories throw new light on seemingly known episodes and events. All articles and the more than 100 colour photos give a wide picture of the long and rich life of Yu. V. as a scientist and a man.
The book starts with forward by V. A. Sadovnichi, rector of Moscow State University. It is followed by 23 articles written by people who, in a different capacity, have been close to Yu. V. Here is the list of the contributors in the order their articles appear in the book: A. N. Shiryaev, I. A. Ibragimov, I. A. Sokolov, V. M. Tikhomirov, A. V. Bulinskii, V. Yu. Korolev, V. N. Sachkov, Sh. K. Formanov, E. V. Bulinskaya, S. A. Aivazyan, N. G. Gamkrelidze, E. L. Presman, V. I. Rotar, E. B. Bagirov, L. S. Ponomarenko, K. A. Borovkov, A. A. Gushchin, V. V. Ulyanov, V. I. Bogachev, V. I. Khokhlov, V. V. Rykov, I. V. Pavlov, S. Y. Shatskikh, A. M. Kagan. The next are two comprehensive interviews with Yu. V. The first one is taken by Larry Shepp in 1990, the second one by F. Götze and W. van Zwet in 2006. The two interviews, now in Russian, complement well the contents of the articles. Then there are 5 articles of recollections, one by Yu. V. himself, the others by family members. The book ends with an extended list of the PhD students of Yu. V. Listed are their names and the year of defense. It is a pity, that only a part of this information is available in the Mathematics Genealogy Project.
The book is a result of the great efforts of the editor A. V. Prokhorov (not only a nephew of Yu. V., but a scientist on his own) and E. L. Presman. The readers now and in the future have the chance to learn a lot of interesting and curious stories about Yu. V. Prokhorov himself and a hundred of other scientists involved in the development of probability theory in Russia and worldwide.

MSC:

60-06 Proceedings, conferences, collections, etc. pertaining to probability theory
60-03 History of probability theory
01A60 History of mathematics in the 20th century
01A70 Biographies, obituaries, personalia, bibliographies
00B15 Collections of articles of miscellaneous specific interest
00B30 Festschriften

Biographic References:

Prokhorov, Yuriĭ Vasil’evich
PDFBibTeX XMLCite