Yuri Gastev (22 March 1928 inMoscow – 12 October 1993 inBoston) was a Soviet mathematician and cybernetician who became an active dissident, finally emigrating to the USA.
Yuri was the son ofAleksei Gastev, the revolutionary poet who later became an advocate ofscientific management. Aleksei was arrested in 1938 as part of theGreat Purge and murdered the following year. Yuri left school at 15 and started attendingMoscow University. However two years later in 1945 he was arrested for anti-Soviet activity. Upon release he settled inEstonia working as a labourer and as a teacher.[1]
At the time ofStalin's death in 1953 Gastev was in hospital. When it was announced on the radio that Stalin had fallen intoCheyne-Stokes breathing, another patient, being a doctor, recognised the significance of this and declared "Cheyne-Stokes is the end, time to get out the bottle". He included references to Cheyne-Stokes when defending his degree thesis, and added references to it in a book he wrote for theSoviet Cybernetics Council. This later cases was spotted leading to the editor being sacked. Gastev had already been sacked so no action was taken against him.[2]
In 1981 he emigrated toFrance, then to theUnited States.
Gastev died of cancer inNew England Deaconess Hospital on 12 October 1993.[1]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
 | This article about a Europeanmathematician is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |
