Naum Natanovich (Nokhim Sanalevich) Meiman | |
|---|---|
| Наум Натанович (Нохим Санелевич) Мейман | |
 | |
| Born | (1912-05-12)May 12, 1912 |
| Died | March 31, 2001(2001-03-31) (aged 88) |
| Citizenship | Russian Empire →Soviet Union →Israel |
| Alma mater | Kazan State University |
| Known for | human rights activism with participation indissident movement in the Soviet Union |
| Spouse | Inna Meiman-Kitrossky |
| Awards | USSR State Prize |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | mathematics |
| Institutions | |
| Doctoral advisor | Nikolai Chebotaryov |
Naum Natanovich (Nokhim Sanalevich) Meiman (Russian:Нау́м Ната́нович (Но́хим Са́нелевич) Ме́йман; 12 May 1912,Bazar, Ukraine – 31 March 2001,Tel Aviv) was a Sovietmathematician, anddissident.[1] He is known for his work incomplex analysis,partial differential equations, andmathematical physics, as well as for his dissident activity, in particular, for being a member of theMoscow Helsinki Group.
He was born inBazar, Ukraine on 12 May 1912.[1] In 1932 he graduated fromKazan State University as anextern. In 1937 he submitted his Ph.D. under the supervision ofNikolai Chebotaryov and was awarded the degreeDoktor nauk. In 1939 he became a full professor atKazan State University.[1]
He worked for two years in the Mathematics Institute at theUniversity of Kharkiv, where he became friends withLev Landau with whom he collaborated for many years. After the Second World War, he went toMoscow and worked at theInstitute for Physical Problems, where he was a head of the mathematics lab. Then he worked in theInstitute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics. In 1953, he was awarded aStalin prize for his work intheoretical physics. He made important contributions in the development ofnuclear weapons in the USSR.
Starting in 1968, Meiman became active in politics and signed several letters of protest against political trials in theUSSR.[1]
In 1971, he retired and applied for permission to emigrate to Israel. Denied on grounds of knowing state secrets, he soon became arefusenik. Gradually he became more active in politics, and was a member of theMoscow Helsinki Group beginning in 1977. Later he became deputy chairman and the last active free member, writing hundreds of the group's documents. He also participated in a Refusenik scientific seminar. He was permanently under surveillance by theKGB, who also bugged his telephone and searched his home.
In 1982, Naum Meiman andAndrei Dmitrievich Sakharov published a letter in defence ofYuri Fyodorovich Orlov.[2]
Meiman also struggled for the right of his wifeInna Meiman-Kitrossky to go to the USA for medical treatment since she had been diagnosed with cancer. After several years of struggle, she was allowed to go to the US and she died in February 1987 inGeorgetown (Washington, D.C.).[3][4][5] Meiman was not allowed to attend her funeral in Washington D.C.[6][7]
In 1988 Meiman was finally allowed to emigrate to Israel, where he became a professor emeritus inTel Aviv University. In 1992, in Tel-Aviv, there was a conference in his honor dedicated to his 80th birthday. Meiman died there in 2001.[1]
