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Veniamin Kagan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Veniamin Fyodorovich Kagan (1869-03-09)9 March 1869 Shavli,Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 8 May 1953(1953-05-08) (aged 84) Moscow,Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Union |
| Alma mater | Imperial Novorossiya University |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics |
| Institutions | Imperial Moscow University |
| Doctoral advisor | Andrey Markov Konstantin Posse |
| Doctoral students | Viktor Wagner Isaak Yaglom |
Veniamin Fyodorovich Kagan (Russian:Вениами́н Фёдорович Ка́ган; 9 March 1869 – 8 May 1953) was a Russian and Soviet mathematician and expert in non-Euclideangeometry.[1] He is the maternal grandfather of mathematiciansYakov Sinai andGrigory Barenblatt.
Kagan was born in Shavli, in theKovno Governorate of theRussian Empire (nowŠiauliai,Lithuania) in 1869, to a poorLithuanian Jewish family. In 1871, his family moved to Yekaterinoslav (nowDnipro), where he grew up. Kagan entered theImperial Novorossiya University inOdessa in 1887, but was expelled for revolutionary activities in 1889. He was put onprobation and sent back toYekaterinoslav. He studied mathematics on his own and, in 1892, passed the state exam atKiev University.
In 1894, Kagan moved toSaint Petersburg, where he continued his studies withAndrey Markov andKonstantin Posse. They tried to help him to obtain an academic position, but Kagan's Jewish background was an obstacle. Only in 1897 was he allowed to become adozent at the Imperial Novorossiya University, where he continued to work until 1923. His students in thetheory of relativity class he taught in 1921-22 includedNikolai Papaleksi,Alexander Frumkin, andIgor Tamm.
Kagan worked at theImperial Moscow University, where he held the Geometry Chair from 1923 to 1952.
In 1924, he joinedOtto Schmidt in drawing up plans for theGreat Soviet Encyclopedia.
He published over 100 mathematical papers in different parts ofgeometry, particularly onhyperbolic geometry and onRiemannian geometry. He received theStalin Prize in 1943. He founded the science publisherMathesis in Odesa. He was a director of the mathematics and natural sciences department of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia. He wrote a definitive biography ofNikolai Lobachevsky and edited his collected works (5 volumes, 1946–1951).
Kagan's doctoral students includeViktor Wagner andIsaak Yaglom.
