I.G.Petrovskii: Life and Work

The entire Ivan Georgievich Petrjvsky's path "From the student up to the rector" can conditionally be divided into three parts. During each of them he got acquainted with certain particulars of life of the Moscow university and of the country, as a whole, he acquired experience and personal qualities, which subsequently became a basis of his "rector's credo".

The years of 1922-1930.

These are student's and post-graduate's years of I.V.Petrovsky. During the twentieth years the ideology did not interfere with natural sciences. Authorities aspired to attract all experienced experts - those who descended from old intelligentsia to the side of the Soviet state (this policy discontinued in 1928 in connection with so called "Shakhty's Case"). The situation at Moscow university and at its physico-mathematical faculty was rather quiet. All this has in the end allowed I.V.Petrovsky to successfully complete his student's years obtaining high-quality professional mathematical education and to take firm decision on his further carrier of a scientific worker and a higher school teacher. Out of numerous facts and events of the 1920-th, which have rendered or could render perceptible influence on I.V.Petrovsky's formation as a person and as the future rector, it is worth to pay special attention to activities of the former Moscow university rectors V.P.Volgin, A.Ya.Vishinsky, I.D.Udaltsov; to organization of the scientific-research institute of mathematics and mechanics under the 1-st MSU and D.F.Egorov's fate.

The years of 1930-1940.

During these years I.V.Petrovsky develops as an original, distinguished mathematician and a university teacher. In the second edition of the book "Universities and scientific establishments" printed in 1935 it was stated: "As one of the significant phenomenon of last years we should rather recognize extremely great works of A.N.Kolmogorov and I.V.Petrovsky on analytical methods of the theory of probabilities related to partial differential equations of the second order, in particular a deep analysis of the thermal conductivity equation carried out by I.V.Petrovsky who has brought a number final results to this classical task". The process of I.V.Petrovsky's personal making coincided with the realization of scale and radical changes in the structure of scientific and educational establishments of the country. At the same time, the beginning of the 30-th was the period of heavy struggle for preservation of the Moscow university, which had being led by the rectors V.N.Kassatkin and A.S.Boutyagin. I.V.Petrovsky had an opportunity to witness and to analyze relations between the university, on the one hand, and all the higher authorities, on the other. It was the time when almost ten years' period of fast quantitative growth of higher school had been completed. A large technical and engineering sector had been created in it that had caused fast and wide growth of education in the fields of natural sciences and especially of mathematics. The task of training national technical and engineering staff for the country had been solved. The function was defined for universities to become centers of training scientific personnel. A system of their state certification had been introduced. A number of important events has occurred in the life of the Moscow university during this very decade including final approval of its principle structure based on faculties, creation and consequent dismissal of Moscow institute of a history and philosophy (MIPHLI); assignment of a name of M.V.Lomonosov to the university, approval of the Charter MSU in 1939. I.V.Petrovsky - was a witness and a direct participant of these processes. At the same time a unified system of the USSR Academy of Sciences was made out. In second half of the 30-th years I.V.Petrovsky runs into such a phenomenon, as a rise of scientific and political opposition between various groups of soviet scientists, including opposition between scientists of the Academy of Sciences and those of the Moscow university. Then came sharp political and ideological confrontations that accompanied conflicts arisen here (the most notorious of them was so called "The Case of the academician N.N.Luzin" and annihilation "of a historical school of M.N.Pokrovsky"). I.V.Petrovsky confronted directly with these phenomena later, when in 1953 a group of employees of the physical faculty accused him of discrediting "scientists-communists".

The years of 1940-1950.

This interval of time is especially important. It was during Great Patriotic war and immediately on its ending that "an administrative self-determination" of I.V.Petrovsky took place. In the system of higher school he was the dean of the MSU faculty of mechanics and mathematics; in the system of the USSR Academy of Sciences he was the deputy director the leading academic scientific establishment- the V.A.Steklov's Mathematical institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and the Academician-secretary of the Branch of physico-mathematical sciences of the Academy. The accumulation of administrative and political experience by I.V.Petrovsky took place in the most extreme conditions - the war was going on. His first managing administrative work was connected to evacuation (begun on October 14, 1941) and re-evacuation (completed by June 10, 1943) of the Moscow university. At the end of the 1940-th I.V.Petrovsky becomes already known, authoritative and independent administrator. He closely cooperates with leaders of the USSR Academy of Sciences S.I.Vavilov, A.V.Topchiev, rectors of Moscow university I.S.Galkin and especially with A.N.Nesmeyanov. The post of the rector of Moscow university was included into the Politburo of CPSU's nomenclature. After A.N.Nesmeyanov had been elected as the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1951 a consent between the higher party, state and academic hierarchies was reached to assign I.V.Petrovsky to the post of the MSU rector.

This article is presented by Ilchenko

Below you can find the PS paper by P.S. Aleksandrov, V.I. Arnold, I.M. Gelfand, A.N. Kolmogorov, S.P. Novikov and O.A. Oleinik, dedicated to 70-th Anniversary of I.G. Petrovskii