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Franco-Russian relations in mathematics between the two world wars. (Les relations mathématiques franco-russes entre les deux guerres mondiales.) (French. English summary) Zbl 1220.01006

Since the 19th century many young Russian mathematicians travelled abroad, either to Paris or to Germany, to continue their studies for a year or two. One of them was N. Lusin, who studied French theory of functions with Baire, Borel and Lebesgue, took it back to Moscow and gave it there new impetus, eventually developing descriptive set theory. It was the beginning of the Moscow school of mathematics. In Soviet times, however, politics heavily influenced all life, including mathematics. After the failure of Bolshevik hopes for a world revolution they changed their strategy into working out a society based upon “scientific grounds”. With that aim in mind they reorganized in 1927 the Petersburg Academy into the All-Soviet Academy of Sciences, transferred it to Moscow and turned it into a state organ to supervise all Soviet science. In the Academy, Lusin became a dominant figure in mathematics. For the time being, Russian mathematicians were yet able to keep contacts with the outside world, but about 1930 the atmosphere began to change, e.g., Lusin was not allowed to go abroad. And in 1936 there was brought up an ominous “affair of academician Lusin” in which some of his students, dissatisfied with him as a leader, took an active part. Since that time, contacts between Russia and the outside world have been cut short and publications were allowed only in Soviet journals with the growing dominance of the Russian language. This policy of almost complete isolation of Russian mathematics was slightly altered only after Stalin’s death in 1953. Upon that historical background the author describes French-Russian mathematical relations in the first half of the 20th century, accenting the role of Lusin both as a founder of the Moscow school and a victim of the “affair”. It is an astonishing picture how, despite all adversities, mathematicians on both sides tried to keep contacts alive.
The article has two annexes: an article by A. N. Kolmogorov from 1960, published in a Moscow journal for foreign readers, which offers an ideal picture of the French-Soviet scientific relations (an interesting testimony of the time), and an article by L. Beaulieu providing information on the present (2009) state and possible access to Russian mathematical archives.

MSC:

01A60 History of mathematics in the 20th century

Biographic References:

Lusin, N.
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