Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh biography. Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh

Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh is one of the outstanding Soviet scientists in the field of applied mathematics and mechanics, a major organizer of Soviet science, and also one of the ideologists of the Soviet space program.

Mstislav Vsevolodovich was born on February 10, 1911 in Riga in the family of associate professor Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh. In 1915 the family was evacuated to Moscow.

M.V. Keldysh in early childhood. 1912

Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh
In 1927, Keldysh graduated from school, but he was not admitted to the institute; there were difficulties with admission to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University due to social origin and the presence of an uncle who left with the White Army.


M.V. Keldysh in the arms of a great-grandmother, surrounded by brothers, sister and mother (1914−1915)

M.V. Keldysh at the age of 9 years. 1920
However, thanks to his outstanding abilities, in 1931 Keldysh graduated from the university and became an employee of TsAGI (in the city of Zhukovsky, Moscow Region). Then he worked at Moscow State University and the Steklov Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences.


M.V. Keldysh with a group of Moscow State University graduates (in the top row, 3rd from the right) (1931)
In 1938 he became a doctor of sciences, in 1946 - an academician. In 1946, together with S. P. Korolev and I. V. Kurchatov, he led the creation of nuclear missile weapons.


S. P. Korolev, I. V. Kurchatov, M. V. Keldysh


Photo of M. V. Keldysh in the group of Stalin Prize winners in the Moscow House of Scientists after the presentation of diplomas and honorary signs (1947). From left to right: M.V. Keldysh, ac. N. I. Meshchaninov, Doctor of Technical Sciences V. A. Vanyukov, V. I. Zborsky, G. V. Akimov.
In 1953, Keldysh took up the post of director of the Institute of Applied Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The main works of the scientist relate to the field of mathematics, mechanics and aerogasdynamics of aircraft. Keldysh made a great contribution to the development of computational and machine mathematics, led the work on the creation of computers.





Photos of M. V. Keldysh with children in the country. 1950s
He acted as one of the initiators of the deployment of work on space exploration, heading from the mid-50s. development of theoretical prerequisites for launching artificial bodies into near-Earth orbits; participated in the creation of the first artificial satellite of the Earth.


Photo M. V. Keldysh in the Kremlin. 1956
Among those present: L. I. Brezhnev, I. G. Ehrenburg, ac. I. G. Petrovsky, M. I. Romm
Formed a number of basic theoretical provisions of modern aerodynamics and rocket and space technology.


M.V. Keldysh during a speech in the House of Scientists at the General Meeting dedicated to manned space flight.
In 1961, after the flight of Yu. A. Gagarin, Keldysh became president of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He was an honorary member of many foreign academies. He was awarded seven Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, medals and various foreign orders.


Photos of M. V. Keldysh with cosmonauts Yu. A. Gagarin and K. P. Feoktistov at a press conference. October 21, 1964


Photo of M. V. Keldysh among the participants of the session of the General Meeting of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the House of Scientists (11/16/1961)
From left to right: K. I. Skryabin, V. A. Trapeznikov, M. V. Keldysh, A. V. Topchiev, A. N. Nesmeyanov, K. V. Ostrovityanov
After the end of the Cold War period, Soviet-American scientific cooperation took on new forms. Bilateral meetings and symposiums were held, problems of mathematics, meteorology, radio astronomy, etc. were discussed together. In 1962, an agreement was concluded between the USSR Academy of Sciences and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration on cooperation in the use of outer space for peaceful purposes.


Photo of M. V. Keldysh during a meeting with the President of the US National Academy F. Seitz (16.09.1963)
In subsequent years, the USSR Academy of Sciences established and expanded ties with other US scientific organizations. In 1963, President of the US National Academy of Sciences F. Seitz and President of the American Council of Cognitive Societies F. Burkhard visited the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Photo of M. V. Keldysh with the American cosmonaut T. Stafford. 1972

Photograph of M. V. Keldysh as part of a delegation of Soviet scientists in Stockholm on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. 1972
Interesting Facts:
- When S. A. Chaplygin (according to other sources, I. F. Petrov) demanded that his employees at TsAGI learn (under the guidance of an instructor) the ability to fly airplanes, Keldysh's successes were so impressive that he was offered to become a professional pilot (according to the memoirs M. L. Gallaya).
- In 1960, when preparing to launch the first automatic station to Mars, as part of the scientific equipment, it was supposed to place an apparatus (spectroreflexometer) at the station, which should determine whether there is water on Mars, and thereby whether there is life on Mars. Keldysh proposed to test the device in terrestrial conditions. The device showed that there is no life on Earth, and was removed, which gave a saving of 12 kilograms (according to the memoirs of B. E. Chertok).

Bust of M. V. Keldysh in Riga
Mstislav Vsevolodovich died on June 24, 1978 in Moscow; the urn with his ashes is installed in the Kremlin wall.

Grigory Alexandrovich Lyubimov, Professor of Moscow State University

February 10, 1911 was born M.V. Keldysh, an outstanding Russian scientist and organizer of science (died June 24, 1978).

Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh was born in Riga into a noble family. Upbringing and primary preschool education M.V. Keldysh received in the family under the guidance of his mother.

In 1927, Keldysh graduated from high school and entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. Academician A.I. Nekrasov drew attention to a capable student and recommended him in 1931 after graduating from the university to work at the Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI). Here, the outstanding abilities of M.V. Keldysh in the field of mathematics and mechanics were fully manifested.

In those years, TsAGI, founded in 1918 by N.E. Zhukovsky, was the center of development of our aircraft industry. To his scientific department, where M.V. Keldysh, the tasks of theoretical understanding of the problems arising in aircraft construction were assigned. Therefore, here scientific work had to be closely related to practical needs. One of the clearest examples of this kind of research was the work of M.V. Keldysh.

At the end of the 30s of the XX century. the increase in aircraft speeds led to the fact that at certain speeds vibrations and self-oscillations of various parts of the aircraft structure occurred. This phenomenon, called flutter, held back the development of aviation throughout the world. Practice required the development of methods to combat flutter.

The flutter problem was first solved in the works of M.V. Keldysh. For this, a subtle mathematical apparatus was involved. But Keldysh did not limit himself to a mathematical solution of the problem, but proposed engineering solutions that eliminated flutter in specific aircraft designs. In the flutter problem, the most important features of Keldysh the scientist have already appeared: courage in choosing a research topic; a clear statement of the physical problem, the ability to highlight the main elements in it; brilliant mastery of the existing mathematical apparatus and the development of new mathematical approaches in cases where the existing apparatus did not allow obtaining a solution to the problem; physical analysis of the obtained mathematical solutions and bringing this analysis to specific practical proposals and engineering solutions. For work on flutter M.V. Keldysh was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1942.

In parallel with research in mechanics, M.V. Keldysh obtained in the late 1930s and early 1940s a number of significant results in mathematics. In particular, his doctoral dissertation (1938) is devoted to the classical theory of functions of a complex variable.

Thanks to the work in the field of mathematics and mechanics, M.V. In the mid-forties, Keldysh became one of the leading and most authoritative scientists, and in 1946 he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He was at that time thirty-five years old. Already in these years, his authority was indisputable, there were legends about his abilities in solving specific problems. Therefore, it is not surprising that M.V. Keldysh was involved in solving the most important problems that confronted our country after the end of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45. - the creation of atomic weapons and atomic energy and the development of missile systems for military purposes and for the purposes of space exploration. From that moment on, the nature of his activity as a scientist changed. Remaining a creative scientist, the author of ideas and methods for solving new problems, he is forced to devote more and more time to scientific and organizational work.

M.V. Keldysh understood that the effective solution of new most complex problems of technology requires the development of physical models of phenomena, methods for their mathematical description and large-scale computational experiments. And he became the head of the Institute of Applied Mathematics, which he created, which became the scientific base for all computational work carried out in our country in the nuclear and space fields of research. M.V. Keldysh was the initiator of the development of the production of computing tools. He was not involved in the development of new computers, but was the customer of this technology and the developer of algorithms and calculation methods.

In 1956 M.V. Keldysh was appointed chairman of the commission for the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, and since that time the center of his interests has shifted to astronautics and space exploration. In the Soviet space program, S.P. Korolev was responsible for the creation of rockets and space satellites and ships, and M.V. Keldysh - for the theoretical substantiation of flights and scientific support for various space programs, in particular, for calculating the trajectories of artificial space objects. M.V. Keldysh became a recognized leader in this area of ​​science. He was distinguished by “an exceptional ability to penetrate, understand the most intricate problem, comprehensively discuss all the pros and cons, regardless of time, convince himself and convince others. This is an amazing logic and clarity of thinking, the ability to highlight the main thing, amazing intuition, a huge outlook. This is absolute objectivity, the absence of any side, opportunistic considerations when solving certain problems, exceptional devotion to the cause, consistency in the implementation of the decisions made” (academicians V.S. Avduevsky and M.Ya. Marov). Merits of M.V. Keldysh in the development and achievements of Soviet cosmonautics were highly appreciated. He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor three times. He was officially called "the theoretician of astronautics."

In 1961 M.V. Keldysh was elected President of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Without leaving the leadership of the space program, he did a lot to enhance the role of the Academy in the scientific life of the country, strengthening its authority in society and government structures. Through the efforts of M.V. Keldysh, as President of the Academy of Sciences, state bans on the development of genetics and cybernetics in our country were lifted, conditions were created for the intensive development of molecular biology, quantum electronics, etc. The world achievements of Soviet science in the field of physics, mechanics, astronautics, geography, mathematics, brought glory to our Fatherland in the 60-70s. of the last century, are inextricably linked with the name of M.V. Keldysh, an outstanding scientist and organizer of science.

Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh died on June 24, 1978. His ashes were buried in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.

“Keldysh created a number of institutes and design bureaus, led them, as well as large scientific and technical councils on problems of national importance, in 1961-1975. headed the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. His high leadership positions were a requirement of the time: a huge amount of human labor and material resources were invested in the scientific and technical sphere. Keldysh devoted all his energy, time and health to organizational work, sacrificing not only his personal time, rest and pleasure, but in many respects his own creativity, the craving for which he retained until the end of his life. The increased role of science in society and the national economy also required the participation of Keldysh in the work of higher state structures - he was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Keldysh's leadership style has always been distinguished by a combination of high competence with an understanding of strategic tasks and the highest moral level, an unlimited sense of responsibility and duty, demanding of himself and, as a result, of his subordinates ...

The historical merit of Keldysh to domestic science and culture is that in a difficult and controversial era he found his place in the structure of our society and state and managed not only to adapt to circumstances, but, despite circumstances, to make the maximum possible contribution to the development of science and culture, to our victory in the Great Patriotic War, a victory without which any conversation about Russian history, science and culture would not make sense at all.”

(K.V. Brushlinsky in the book: M.V. Keldysh: A creative portrait based on the memoirs of contemporaries. M .: Nauka, 2001.).

Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1946; corresponding member 1943), member of the Presidium since 1953, vice-president in 1960-1961, president in 1961-1975, member of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1975-1978. Three times Hero of Socialist Labor (1956, 1961, 1971). Member of the CPSU since 1949.

Biography

Born in the family of Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh (1878-1965) - professor, major general of the engineering and technical service, founder of the methodology for calculating building structures. He was called "the father of Russian reinforced concrete." M. V. Keldysh never hid his noble origin (on the question of the questionnaire about social origin he answered: “from the nobility”). Maternal grandfather - full artillery general A.N. Skvortsov, paternal grandfather - M.F. Keldysh, who graduated from the seminary, but then chose the medical path and rose to the rank of general.

Mother - Maria Alexandrovna (nee Skvortsova) - was a housewife. Mstislav was the fifth child (and fourth son) in the family, later two more girls were born. In 1915 the Keldysh family moved from front-line Riga to Moscow. In 1919-1923 Keldysh lived in Ivanovo, where his father taught at the Polytechnic Institute, organized on the initiative of M.V. Frunze. In Ivanovo, he began his studies at a secondary school, having received the necessary initial training at home from Maria Alexandrovna. Upon his return to Moscow (1923), he began to study at a school with a construction bias (experimental No. 7), in the summer he went with his father to construction sites, worked as a laborer. Keldysh's propensity for mathematics manifested itself as early as the 7th-8th grades, teachers even then distinguished him by his outstanding abilities for the exact sciences.

In 1927, Keldysh graduated from high school and wanted to get his father's profession of civil engineer, which he liked. However, he was not accepted to the construction institute, where his father taught, due to his youth (only 16). On the advice of his elder sister Lyudmila, who graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University (now Lomonosov Moscow State University), studied mathematics under the scientific supervision of N. N. Luzin, he enters the same faculty of Moscow State University. While studying at the university, Keldysh made scientific contacts with M.A. Lavrentiev, which later grew into long-term scientific cooperation and strong friendship. He graduated from Moscow State University (1931), on the recommendation of A. I. Nekrasov, Keldysh was sent to TsAGI. The scientific life of TsAGI at that time was headed by the outstanding domestic mechanic S. A. Chaplygin, under his leadership a scientific seminar was regularly held, of which Keldysh became an accurate participant. The participants of the seminar were also M. A. Lavrentiev, N. E. Kochin, L. S. Leibenzon, A. I. Nekrasov, G. I. Petrov, L. I. Sedov, L. N. Sretensky, F. I. Frankl, S. A. Khristianovich; many of them later became eminent mechanical scientists. Keldysh worked at TsAGI until December 1946, first as an engineer, then as a senior engineer, head of a group, and from 1941 as head of the dynamic strength department.

Continuing to work at TsAGI, in the fall of 1934 Keldysh entered graduate school (later supplemented by a two-year doctoral program) at the Mathematical Institute. V. A. Steklov Academy of Sciences of the USSR (MIAN) to Lavrentiev, where he deals with the theory of approximations of functions, closely related to the applied topics of his work (hydro, aerodynamics). In 1935, without protection, he was awarded the degree of candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, in 1937, the degree of candidate of technical sciences and the title of professor in the specialty "aerodynamics". On January 26, 1938, he defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic "On the representation by series of polynomials of functions of a complex variable and harmonic functions."

In June 1944, he became the head of the shortly before that created department of mechanics at the Mathematical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and remained in this position until 1953. A scientific seminar was held at the department, bringing together specialists in aeromechanics. At the same time, he resumes his teaching activities at Moscow State University, which began in 1932. Here he lectures at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics and the Faculty of Physics and Technology, heads the Department of Thermodynamics, and directs a research seminar on the theory of functions of a complex variable. From 1942 to 1953 Keldysh was a professor at Moscow State University.

From 1953 to 1978 he was director of the Institute of Applied Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences (IPM RAS).

Keldysh studied the mechanics and aerogasdynamics of aircraft. Of great importance are the works of Keldysh related to the solution of the flutter problem, which in the late 1930s. became an obstacle in the development of high-speed aviation. Keldysh's work in the field of high-speed aerodynamics was of great importance for the development of jet aviation. Keldysh also found simple design solutions to eliminate the shimmy phenomenon - self-excited vibrations of the nose wheel of the aircraft landing gear.

Keldysh participated in the work on the creation of the Soviet thermonuclear bomb. To do this, in 1946 he organized a special settlement bureau at the MIAN. It was for participation in the creation of thermonuclear weapons that Keldysh was awarded the first title of Hero of Socialist Labor in 1956.

In 1946, Keldysh was appointed head of NII-1 of the Ministry of Aviation Industry, from 1950 he became the scientific director of this institution and held this post until 1961. He was one of the founders of the development of work on space exploration and the creation of rocket and space systems, leading since the mid-1950s, the development of theoretical prerequisites for the launch of artificial bodies into near-earth orbits, and later - flights to the Moon and planets of the solar system. He headed the scientific and technical council for coordinating activities to create the first artificial satellite of the Earth, made a great contribution to the implementation of manned flight programs, to the formulation of scientific problems and research into near-Earth space, the interplanetary environment, the Moon and planets, and to the solution of many problems in the mechanics of space flight and theory of control, navigation and heat transfer. An important place in Keldysh's activities was occupied by the scientific management of work carried out in cooperation with other countries under the Intercosmos program. His activities in the field of astronautics long time was classified and in the newspapers Keldysh was conditionally called a "cosmonautics theorist", despite the fact that he was known as the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The second title of Hero of Socialist Labor Keldysh received in 1961 after the first manned space flight.

The development of modern computational mathematics in the USSR is associated with the name of Keldysh, he supervised the creation of Soviet computers for calculations on atomic and rocket-space topics (starting with the Strela computer). He not only led the scientific team, but also personally participated in the creation of new computational methods and algorithms.

Keldysh was also the chairman of the Committee on Lenin and State Prizes under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (1964-1978), a member of many foreign academies (including the International Academy of Astronautics), scientific institutions and the International Public Guggenheim Prize in Astronautics, a delegate of the XXII-XXV Congresses of the CPSU, where he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU, a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 6th-9th convocations.

In 1955, Keldysh signed the Letter of Three Hundred. During the propaganda campaign against A. D. Sakharov, Keldysh signed an anti-Sakharov statement, but did not allow Sakharov to be expelled from the Academy, moreover, he personally met with Andropov, petitioning for Sakharov. The years when Keldysh held the post of President of the USSR Academy of Sciences were a period of significant achievements in Soviet science, conditions were created for the development of new branches of science - molecular biology, quantum electronics, etc.

Participation in the decision to move to copying the IBM-360 series

As follows from the memoirs of representatives of academic science published in 2005, M.V. Keldysh bears a significant share of the responsibility for the controversial decision to transfer the Soviet industry, science and education to copying the IBM-360 series computers, which determined the further development of the Soviet computer industry.

In the article by the Director of the Computing Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician Yu. G. Evtushenko, Deputy Director of the Computing Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences G. M. Mikhailov and others “50 years of the history of computer technology: from Strela to cluster solutions” (in the collection dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Computing Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences) noted:

When S. A. Chaplygin (according to other sources, I. F. Petrov) demanded that his employees at TsAGI learn (under the guidance of an instructor) the ability to fly airplanes, Keldysh's successes were so impressive that he was offered to become a professional pilot.

In 1960, when preparing to launch the first automatic station to Mars, as part of the scientific equipment, it was supposed to place an apparatus (spectroreflexometer) at the station, which should determine whether there is water on Mars, and thereby whether there is life on Mars. Keldysh proposed to test the device in terrestrial conditions. The device showed that there is no life on Earth, and was removed, which gave a saving of 12 kilograms.

Once, after the report of Academician A. Yu. Ishlinsky on the reasons for the failure of the gyroscopic device of the launch vehicle, Keldysh remarked: “After such a wonderful report by Alexander Yulievich, it will become clear even to those who do not know the theory of gyroscopes that one must fly without gyroscopes at all.”

life credo

They say that Keldysh, blessing academician I. G. Petrovsky for the rectorship at Moscow State University, recommended him to follow three rules, which, probably, were his life principles:

  • not to fight evil, but to take up and do good, good deeds;
  • do not listen to complaints in the absence of the one against whom the complaint is made;
  • promise nothing to anyone, but if he promised, then do it, even if circumstances worsen.

When Petrovsky asked why one should not fight evil, he replied: because in this fight evil uses all means, and you are only noble, and therefore you will lose and suffer. It is very useful not to listen to complaints - the number of complainants immediately decreases, and when both sides come, the consideration of the case is accelerated due to the absence of unfounded claims. Finally, it is better not to promise and do what is asked, than to promise, but not to do if circumstances interfere.

Death

In the last months of his life, Keldysh was seriously ill.

On June 24, 1978, the body of M.V. Keldysh was found in the Volga car, which was in the garage at his dacha. The official report stated that death was the result of a heart attack. At the same time, there is a widespread version that he committed suicide by poisoning himself with the exhaust gases of a car engine while in a deep depression.

In the book "Etudes about Scientists" (Bishkek: "Uchkun", 2002. - P. 166), Yaroslav Golovanov writes:

The urn with the ashes of Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh is installed in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.

Keldysh's nephew S.P. Novikov also became a famous mathematician.

Awards

USSR awards

  • Three times Hero of Socialist Labor (1956, 1961, 1971)
  • 7 orders of Lenin
  • 3 Orders of the Red Banner of Labor
  • Gold medal to them. K. E. Tsiolkovsky Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1972)
  • Big gold medal. M. V. Lomonosov Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1975)
  • Stalin Prize (1942, 1946).
  • Lenin Prize (1957)

Foreign awards and titles

  • 1961:
  • full member of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences
  • 1962:
  • full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences
  • full member of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences
  • 1963:
  • 1964:
  • Honorary Doctor of the University of Wroclaw B. Bieruta (Poland)
  • member of the American Mathematical Society
  • member of the International Academy of Astronautics
  • 1965:
  • member of the German Academy of Naturalists "Leopoldina" (GDR)
  • laureate of the Guggenheim Prize of the International Academy of Astronautics
  • honorary member of the Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania
  • 1966:
  • honorary member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
  • foreign member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig (GDR)
  • foreign member of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR
  • honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston (USA)
  • silver medal named after A. Bello of the University of Chile
  • 1967:
  • Honorary Doctor of Delhi University (India)
  • honorary doctorate from the Indian Statistical Institute in Calcutta
  • full member of the International Academy of Astronautics
  • Honorary Doctor of the Budapest State University named after L. Eötvös (Hungary)
  • 1968
  • honorary doctorate from the University of Lagos (Nigeria)
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
  • 1969:
  • Order of Cyril and Methodius, 1st class (Bulgaria)
  • Order of Bernardo O'Higgins II degree (Chile)
  • honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  • foreign member of the Society for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (Poland)
  • 1970:
  • gold medal "For services to science and humanity" of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences
  • gold medal "For services to science and humanity" of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
  • Order of the Red Banner of Labor (Hungary)
  • 1971:
  • Order of the Legion of Honor (France)
  • Order of Georgy Dimitrov (NRB)
  • 1972:
  • Cuban Academy of Sciences gold medal
  • Medal "50th Anniversary of the Mongolian People's Revolution"
  • 1974:
  • Honorary Doctor of Charles (Prague) University (Czechoslovakia)
  • academician of Finland
  • Order of Sukhbaatar (MPR)

Memory

  • In 1978, the Academy of Sciences of the USSR established a gold medal to them. M. V. Keldysh, awarded "3a outstanding scientific work in the field of applied mathematics and mechanics, as well as theoretical research on space exploration."


To Yeldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich - Soviet scientist in the field of mathematics, mechanics, space science and technology, organizer of science, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor.

Born on January 29 (February 10), 1911 in the city of Riga in the family of an adjunct professor of the Riga Polytechnic Institute, a major civil engineer (later an academician of architecture) Vsevolod Mikhailovich Keldysh and a housewife Maria Aleksandrovna Skvortsova. In 1915, the Keldysh family moved from front-line Riga to Moscow. In 1919-1923, M.V. Keldysh lived in the city of Ivanovo, where his father taught at the Polytechnic Institute, organized on the initiative of M.V. Frunze. In Ivanovo, he began his studies at a secondary school, having received the necessary initial training at home. Upon his return to Moscow (1923) he studied at a school with a construction bias, in the summer he went with his father to construction sites, worked as a laborer.

In 1927 he graduated from high school and wanted to get his father's profession of a civil engineer, which he liked, but he was not accepted to the construction institute where his father taught because of his youth. On the advice of his elder sister, who graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), studied mathematics under the scientific supervision of N.N. Luzin, he entered the same faculty of MSU. While studying at the university, M.V. Keldysh made scientific contacts with M.A. Lavrentiev, which later grew into long-term scientific cooperation and friendship. From the spring of 1930, along with his studies, he began working as an assistant at the Electrical Machine-Building Institute, then at the Machine-Tool Institute.

After graduating from Moscow State University in 1931, on the recommendation of Academician A.I. Nekrasov, M.V. Keldysh was sent to the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute named after N.E. Zhukovsky (TsAGI). The scientific life of TsAGI at that time was headed by S.A. Chaplygin, a seminar was regularly held under his leadership. The participants of the seminar were also M.A. Lavrentiev, N.E. Kochin, L.S. Leibenzon, A.I. Nekrasov, G.I. Petrov, L.I. Sedov, L.N. Frankl, S.A. Khristianovich; many of them later became well-known mechanical scientists. M.V. Keldysh worked at TsAGI until December 1946, first as an engineer, then as a senior engineer, head of a group, and since 1941 - head of the department of dynamic strength.

The initial period of M.V. Keldysh's work at TsAGI was connected with the study of nonlinear flow problems. In the works of this cycle "The external Neumann problem for nonlinear elliptic equations with an application to the theory of a wing in a compressible gas" (1934) and "A rigorous justification of the theory of the Zhukovsky screw" (1935, carried out in collaboration with F.I. Frankl), "On the theory of an oscillating wing (1935, together with M.A. Lavrentiev) for the first time, the influence of the compressibility of the medium on the aerodynamic characteristics of streamlined bodies was first strictly considered and the well-known Zhukovsky theorem on lift was generalized; it was established for the first time that under certain modes of wing oscillations, thrust arises. He was engaged in the theory of the impact of a body on a liquid and the movement of bodies under the surface of a liquid.

Continuing to work at TsAGI, in the fall of 1934, M.V. Keldysh entered the graduate school (later supplemented by a two-year doctoral program) of the V.A. Steklov Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences to M.A. the subject of his work (hydro-, aerodynamics). In 1935, without defending a dissertation, he was awarded the degree of candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, in 1937 - the degree of candidate of technical sciences and the title of professor in the specialty "aerodynamics".

On January 26, 1938, he defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences on the topic “On the representation of complex variable and harmonic functions by series of polynomials”.

A series of works by M.V. Keldysh and his collaborators of the prewar and war years is devoted to oscillations and self-oscillations of aircraft structures. His research laid the foundations for the methods of numerical calculation and modeling in wind tunnels of the flutter phenomenon (strong oscillations of the aircraft wings that occurred at certain aircraft speeds and led to its destruction). The results of M.V. Keldysh not only led to the development of simple and reliable measures to prevent flutter, but also became the basis of a new branch of the science of the strength of aircraft structures. It is known that 146 accidents due to flutter were recorded in German aviation in the period 1935-1943. The results of the work of M.V. Keldysh played a big role in the creation of high-speed aviation in our country.

In October 1941, M.V. Keldysh with his wife and three children, among other employees of TsAGI, was evacuated to the city of Kazan, where he continued to work. In April 1942, he was awarded the Stalin Prize, 2nd class, for scientific work on preventing the destruction of aircraft due to wing and tail flutter. During the war years, along with scientific and experimental research at TsAGI, he was engaged in the implementation of the developed recommendations in aircraft design bureaus and aircraft factories. This activity of his was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and the Order of Lenin.

His studies of the stability of the front wheel of a three-wheel landing gear are closely related to the studies of aviation oscillations and flutter, which made it possible to propose reasonable and simple design measures to eliminate shimming (self-excited turns and displacements) of the aircraft wheel during takeoff or landing, which led to the destruction of the front landing gear of the aircraft. According to available data, there were more than 150 shimmy-related accidents in German aviation, not a single one in the domestic one. In 1946, he was again awarded the Stalin Prize of the 2nd degree for the creation of aircraft landing gear, which made it possible to prevent vibration of the wheel when sliding along the strip.

The success of M.V. Keldysh's applied work is due not only to his deep intuition as a mechanical engineer and experimenter, but also to his outstanding talent as a mathematician, subtle theorist and creator of computational algorithms and methods. Conversely, many of his fundamental mathematical studies have their origin in problems that arose from his work on mechanics. As a mathematician, M.V. Keldysh contributed to the theory of functions, potential theory, differential equations, and functional analysis. Of great importance are the results of M.V. Keldysh in mechanics, covering hydrodynamics, aerodynamics, gas dynamics, and mechanics of aircraft structures. M.V. Keldysh learned a lot in communication with aircraft designers, first of all, S.A. Lavochkin and A.N. Tupolev.

On September 29, 1943, M.V. Keldysh was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Department of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. In June 1944, he became head of the Department of Mechanics, which had been created shortly before that, at the Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences and worked in this position until 1953. A scientific seminar, which brought together specialists in aeromechanics, worked at the department. At the same time, he resumed his teaching activities at Moscow State University, which began in 1932, he lectured at the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics and the Faculty of Physics and Technology, headed the Department of Thermodynamics, and led a research seminar on the theory of functions of a complex variable. From 1942 to 1953, M.V. Keldysh was a professor at Moscow State University. Many of his students of that time became prominent scientists, among them academicians A.A. Gonchar, D.E. Okhotsimsky and T.M. Eneev.

On November 30, 1946, M.V. Keldysh was elected a full member (academician) of the USSR Academy of Sciences in the Department of Technical Sciences. A new period of his activity began, associated with the names of the "three K" - I.V.Kurchatov, S.P.Korolev and M.V.Keldysh. Immediately after his election as an academician, he was appointed head (since August 1950 - scientific director) of the head research institute (NII-1 of the Ministry of Aviation Industry; now the M.V. Keldysh Center), which dealt with applied problems of rocket science. Since that time, the main activity of M.V. Keldysh has been connected with rocket technology. The world's first intercontinental missile was launched in the USSR on August 21, 1957.

In 1949, M.V. Keldysh became a member of the CPSU, later he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU (since 1961), was a delegate to the congresses of the CPSU (XXII, 1961; XXIII, 1966; XXIV, 1971; XXV, 1977).

In the postwar years, M.V. Keldysh was engaged in solving problems of nuclear energy and computational mathematics. New research methods were required, first of all, effective methods and means of mathematical calculation. The need to create them caused a revolution in the field of computational mathematics, which radically changed its general scientific significance. M.V. Keldysh was one of the first to predict the role of computational mathematics in increasing the efficiency of scientific and technical research. Having got acquainted with the creators of the first domestic computer M.A. Lesechko and Yu.Ya. Bazilevsky, he became a specialist in this field. In 1953, he became the founder of the Institute (until 1966 - Department) of Applied Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences and its permanent director. The development of modern computational mathematics in our country is largely connected with the activities of this institute, which now bears his name.

M.V. Keldysh took part in the work on the creation of a nuclear missile shield both as the leader of large teams and as the author of many scientific and technical ideas and computational methods. At this time, he published works on assessing the consequences of a nuclear explosion "On the assessment of the effect of an explosion at high altitudes" (1950, together with L.I. Sedov) and "Point explosion in the atmosphere" (1955, together with D.E. Okhotsimsky).

At Order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (with the stamp "secret") of September 11, 1956 for exceptional services to the state in the performance of a special task of the government (for contribution to the creation of a nuclear missile shield and for work on the creation of the Burya cruise missile) Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the Order of Lenin and the Hammer and Sickle gold medal.

He made an outstanding contribution to the development of Soviet space science and technology. Starting to work on space topics in 1946 in creative collaboration with S.P. Korolev, he was one of the initiators of a wide deployment of work on the study and exploration of space. From the beginning of 1956, he headed one of the leading sections in their implementation. His contribution to the formation and successful development of such scientific areas as the mechanics of space flight and space navigation is great. Since 1953, the Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences has been working on solving the problems of launching an artificial satellite into the Earth's orbit, which culminated on October 4, 1957 with its successful launch and launch into orbit.

M.V. Keldysh played a decisive role in the creation of a relatively cheap launch vehicle for launching satellites into orbit under scientific programs (satellites of the Kosmos family). Led the "Lunar" program, including flights of automatic stations of the "Luna" family. Attracted scientific teams to participate in the program, led meetings and seminars to discuss research results and adopt future plans. The first apparatus to the moon was sent on January 2, 1959. On October 4, 1959, images of the far side of the Moon were obtained (from the Luna-3 apparatus). In 1966, a soft landing was made on the surface of the Moon, and an artificial satellite (Luna-10) was launched into its orbit. In October 1970, Luna-16 was launched, delivering samples of lunar soil to Earth, then the launch of the Luna-17 automatic station with the Lunokhod-1 self-propelled vehicle; in total, by 1976, 34 devices of the Luna series were launched. The first three launches of spacecraft to the Moon ended in disasters: R-7 rockets, which successfully launched artificial satellites into Earth orbit, exploded in flight. M.V. Keldysh was able to understand the cause of the catastrophes - the development of fluctuations in the rocket fuel system.

No less effective is the participation of M.V. Keldysh in the Venus research program associated with automatic stations of the Venera family (starting with Venera-4, 1967), the Venera-7 apparatus (1970) showed that the pressure on the surface of Venus is 100 Earth atmospheres, the temperature is 400 degrees Celsius. The role of MV Keldysh in the exploration of Mars is great. In 1960, when preparing to launch the first automatic station to Mars, M.V. Keldysh proposed testing instruments intended for the study of Mars under terrestrial conditions. This made it possible to identify inefficient equipment and gave savings of tens of kilograms in the weight of the automatic station. He traveled to test sites and spaceports during the preparation and launch of spacecraft, was a member of various commissions on space problems, was the chairman of expert commissions, commissions to analyze the causes of accidents, in particular, he was the chairman of the emergency commission to determine the causes of the death of the crew of the Soyuz-11 spacecraft (1971, cosmonauts G.T. Dobrovolsky, V.N. Volkov and V.I. Patsaev). The identification of new scientific and technical problems, the development of space technology, the formation of complex scientific and technical programs, flight control issues are far from a complete list of problems that were part of the scope of M.V. Keldysh's activities.

At By order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (with the stamp "secret") of June 17, 1961, for special merits in the development of rocket technology and for work on the creation and successful launch of the world's first spacecraft "Vostok" with a man on board, he was awarded the second gold medal "Sickle and Hammer.

On March 18, 1965, with the direct participation of M.V. Keldysh, a man-made spacewalk was carried out for the first time (cosmonaut A.A. Leonov). M.V. Keldysh made a huge contribution to the implementation of the joint Soviet-American space flight Soyuz-Apollo (1975) and the development of flights under the Interkosmos program.

A long period of M.V. Keldysh's life is connected with his activity in the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, which began in October 1953 and continued until the end of his life. Since 1953 he has been Academician-Secretary of the Department of Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1960, M.V. Keldysh was elected vice president, and on May 19, 1961, president of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Heading the Academy of Sciences of the USSR from 1961 to 1975, M.V. Keldysh provided all possible support to the development in our country not only of mathematics and mechanics, but also of new areas of modern science, such as cybernetics, quantum electronics, molecular biology and genetics. In 1962, the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences decided to build a complex of biological institutes in the city of Pushchino. Under M.V. Keldysh, a comprehensive check of the activities of T.D. Lysenko took place, which made it possible to expose the pseudoscientific concepts of “Lysenkoism”, which denied genetics. N.I. Vavilov was posthumously reinstated in the lists of full members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and his merits in biology and agricultural sciences were confirmed. The years when M.V. Keldysh held the post of President of the USSR Academy of Sciences were the period of the most rapid growth of the Academy, its transformation into the largest center of fundamental science.

At By order of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on February 9, 1971, for exceptional services to the state in the development of Soviet science and technology, great scientific and social activities, and in connection with the sixtieth anniversary of his birth, he was awarded the third gold medal "Hammer and Sickle".

M.V. Keldysh did a great deal of work in the Committee on Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR in the field of science and technology, heading it from 1961 until his death. His reviews of the presented works are of independent scientific interest. He supported in every possible way the transition to mass machine production, which facilitated labor. He highly appreciated the introduction of cotton and tea harvesters. In the last years of his life, M.V. Keldysh was interested in the problem of creating solar power plants in space orbit.

He developed international scientific cooperation and coordination of scientific research in every possible way. He made scientific visits to Germany and England (1965), Czechoslovakia (1963, 1970), Japan (1964), Poland (1964, 1973), France (1965,1967), Romania (1966), Bulgaria (1966, 1969), Hungary (1967), Canada (1967), Italy (1969), Sweden (1969), Spain (1970), USA (the first official visit of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the entire time of its existence, 1972). M.V. Keldysh was fluent in German and French, he also read Italian, and began to study English at a mature age. His merits received international recognition, among his titles: Academician of the German Academy of Naturalists "Leopoldina" (1961), Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Mongolia (1961), Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Poland (1962), Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Czechoslovakia (1962), Honorary Member of the Academy of Sciences of Romania (1965), honorary foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1966), honorary foreign member of the American Academy of Sciences and Arts in Boston (1966), honorary member of the Royal Society in Edinburgh (1968), honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1970), honorary member of the Academy of Finland (1974), honorary Doctor of Delhi University (1967), Honorary Doctor of the University of Budapest (1967), Honorary Doctor of the University of Lagos (1968), Honorary Doctor of Charles University in Prague (1974), Honorary Doctor of the Indian Statistical Institute (1974).

Lived and worked in the hero city of Moscow. He died on June 24, 1978 under circumstances that did not exclude his suicide. The urn with his ashes is buried in the Kremlin wall on Red Square in Moscow.

He was awarded seven Orders of Lenin (09/16/1945, 1954, 1954, 09/11/1956, 02/09/1961, 1967, 1975), three Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (07/11/1943, 06/10/1945, 1953), medals, foreign awards - Orders of George Dimitrov (Bulgaria, 1971), Cyril and Methodius 1st degree (Bulgaria, 1969), Bernardo O. Higgins 2nd degree (Chile, 1969), Red Banner (Hungary, 1970), Legion of Honor (France, 1971), Sukhe Bator (Mongolia, 1975), the medal "50 years of the Mongolian People's Revolution" (Mongolia, 1972).

Laureate of the Lenin Prize (1957), the Stalin Prize of the 2nd degree (1942, 1946). He was awarded the Great Gold Medal named after M.V. Lomonosov of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (1975), the Gold Medal named after K.E. ).

In Moscow, on the house where he lived (Kosygina Street, 6), on the building of the main building of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov and on the building of the Institute of Applied Mathematics (Miusskaya Square, 4), memorial plaques were installed. Busts in Moscow are installed on the Alley of Cosmonauts (near Prospekt Mira) and at the Institute of Applied Mathematics named after M.V. Keldysh of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The bust is also installed in the homeland of M.V. Keldysh in Riga, on the house where he was born - a memorial plaque. A crater on the far side of the Moon, one of the minor planets, a research ship "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh", a square in Moscow are named after M.V. Keldysh. In 1978, the USSR Academy of Sciences established the M.V. Keldysh Gold Medal "3 for outstanding scientific work in the field of applied mathematics and mechanics, as well as theoretical research on space exploration."

Keldysh Mstislav Vsevolodovich (1911-1978), mathematician, mechanic.

In 1915 the family was evacuated to Moscow. In 1927, Keldysh graduated from school, but he was not admitted to the institute; there were difficulties with admission to the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University due to social origin and the presence of an uncle who left with the White Army. However, thanks to his outstanding abilities, in 1931 Keldysh graduated from the university and became an employee of TsAGI (in the city of Zhukovsky, Moscow Region). Then he worked at Moscow State University and the Steklov Mathematical Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences.

In 1938 he became a doctor of sciences, in 1946 - an academician. In 1946, together with S. P. Korolev and I. V. Kurchatov, he led the creation of nuclear missile weapons.

In 1953, Keldysh took up the post of director of the Institute of Applied Mathematics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The main works of the scientist relate to the field of mathematics, mechanics and aerogasdynamics of aircraft. Keldysh made a great contribution to the development of computational and machine mathematics, led the work on the creation of computers.

He acted as one of the initiators of the deployment of work on space exploration, heading from the mid-50s. development of theoretical prerequisites for launching artificial bodies into near-Earth orbits; participated in the creation of the first artificial satellite of the Earth.

Formed a number of basic theoretical provisions of modern aerodynamics and rocket and space technology.

In 1961, after the flight of Yu. A. Gagarin, Keldysh became president of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He was an honorary member of many foreign academies. He was awarded seven Orders of Lenin, three Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, medals and various foreign orders.

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